Harry Potter and the Silver Core of Dual Magic
by val'tanelle
Summary: TO BE CONTINUED; CHAPTERS IN THE PROCESSES OF REVISION EDIT: MAY 01, 2010
1. THE BOY WITH A LETTER

**Harry Potter and the Silver Core of Dual Magic  
By Himig**

**Disclaimer:**  
Rowling has Harry Potter, Takahashi has Yu-Gi-Oh, and what do I have? –sobs-

**Summary:**  
The HPxYGO world turned upside-down when a CEO & a mutt were invited to Hogwarts, a missing Duel King, the Ishtars murdered with another Boy-Who-Lived, and strange deaths of top muggle criminals, all because of Ryou Bakura meeting Harry Potter in England.

**Author's Note:**  
This story was started by a former HP-hater (and still is but not that much) who is just starting to watch the movies due to notable HPxYGO crossover fictions. Forgive me for not mentioning the 30 more crossovers of it but I specially would like to mention: "The New Students" by _White Angel-Chan,_ "Destiny Prophecies: Spheres and Stones" _Hui Xie_ "Shinko Majutsu" of _Katreal_, "Seeking the Light of Shadows" by _Sugar Fairy Skittles_ and last by not the least, "Avenging the Falsebearer" by _Ryou Averu _for dedicating myself into Harry Potter and begin a crossover with YGO myself. Yes, thank you. There are also other fictions out there that inspired me but that's too long to list.

Before I begin, may I present a little question and answer? Of course, that's a rhetorical question. Although as far as I can recall, doesn't allow this, I'll only write down very important notes then the rest are to be posted in my profile.

R (Reader)  
H (Himig)

R: Will there be any OC (Original character)?  
H: No, but unfamiliar names will be mentioned but no OC to worry about. Unless they're extras then I presume that's obvious

R: How does this differ from other HPxYGO?  
H: Sennen Item holders doesn't go to Hogwarts then learned magic, cause ultimate mayhem, save the world alongside Harry and keep their secret, instead there's a brand new reason with original ideas from myself—of course, it is a **fan**fiction. Oh and Voldy wants no Sennen Item. (elaborated more in profile)

R: Couples?  
H: One. No Shounen-ai/Shoujen-ai, Yaoi/Yuri or anything. The couple is from Yu-Gi-Oh and no one else. And no, it's not Yami/Yugi x Tea. Tea's not even a main character here. No, Seto didn't fall in love. It's an official couple from YGO actually.

R: are you following the anime? Dub? Manga?  
H: Mix. Just flow with the story. That's all. I have to avoid mentioning the changes to erase spoilers though you'll only see five or less from the manga. Most from the jap anime.

R: Is this a centric fic?  
H: No. But seemingly so since I've formed the chapters using Rowling's style. Things _mostly _happens around his view.

R: Timeline?  
H: between a month after Battle City and Doma Orichalcos Saga. Though the story will then move on after the Doma Saga (yes, you heard me correctly), after Book 4 (yet again, you read correctly) but adopting Book 5's important event/agendas/characters soon. Both would transit to events at the right time.

**Warning**:  
Vulgar words (not excessive though), mild-adult theme, violence, and character deaths (main characters but not a lot. Probably more in the minor parts). Be prepared for surprises, I'm telling you. Things you read may not be what they seem (winky) mark my words on that.

Japanese words/phrases/sentences/clauses **ARE NOT ACCURATE AND MIGHT EVEN BE INCORRECT**. Editting also made me a heck lot of trouble

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**Harry Potter**  
**_The Silver Core of Dual Magic_**

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Book 1_  
The Gabriel Wind Hist_ory

Chapter I – The Boy with a Letter

-

_Dear Ayame, _

_How are you Ayame? I'm sorry I haven't written you for a long time now. I've been involved in yet more magic among my friends. It's not easy avoiding any magical-related when you're landlord of an Ancient Egyptian Tomb Robber. Speaking of him, he's been very low lately. I wake up normally nowadays and there's only one voice in my head. I guess it's nice being normal in any days but knowing I'm far from normal doesn't make me feel any more comfortable. _

_It's almost a month since I've stayed here in England. Godric's Hollow hasn't changed at all and you shouldn't be surprised when I tell you there's been someone entering now and then in the Potter's residence. You were very young at that time when I met Uncle James and Aunt Lily. They were really nice people so I couldn't really forget them even I only was_ _three at that time. They're the only Wizard family with Uncle Sirius, Uncle Remus and Uncle Peter whom I respect. Besides, I kept some pictures with me…I'm sorry, I know I should burned them but I wouldn't like to burn any memories of theirs left to ashes. _

_For the past days, I've been keeping low from magic. But magic just won't concur me though I'd admit I'm not one to…complain. There's been strange occurrences like the Duel Monsters Holographic Error. There's been Duel Monsters around the world spotted and KaibaCorp's business is dropping. I hope Seto is alright…oh I'm sorry Ayame, I forgot to say that we've been keeping in contact for the past month ever since the tournament. It's really funny how our friendship went but I'd tell you some other time. _

_During the past month, Isis convinced Malik to hang out with Yugi and the others. I was in the hospital for several days and I've been with Seto and Mokuba at that time but I heard Malik's been seeing more light as a teenager…which is good, right? I think he's seeing too much light. He's true colors are slowly being revealed and he's a really funny and…insane person? I don't know how to put it up nicely but I think he's proud of it… _

_Oh and I had this really neat book you would've love to read. It's a muggle fiction about an exiled witch; really fascinating. It's kind of funny how muggles come up with this…Seto doesn't like my taste of books though as these were all "nonsense". He prefers Sci-Fic though he normally considers the aliens as "outrageous"; he thinks that although farfetched, the technology may be considered brought to life. I mean, he did make those holograms that used to be in Sci-Fic… _

_If there's one thing I appreciate muggles most is their invention of computers and Internet. I normally use them for gaming though like Duel Monsters. Muggle technology brings them to life and I must say the similarity is very high in comparison with the real monsters. Though their normal description of goblins made me laugh. _

_However today, things weren't as quiet as_ _last month. Seto was keeping me updated on the "real" news though he still says magic doesn't exist. Even though he's very busy keeping his company's good reputation, he can still send me a book of ranting about magic not existing. With this keeping up, I'm ever more frightened to learn his reaction once I tell him I'm a you-know-what. He even ignores the fact I have another spirit inside me. _

_Since I keep on speaking about magic, I guess it wouldn't hurt if I tell you about what's going on in the Wizarding World…(written in a messy handwriting) filled with filth and blasphemous odious talks—sorry. Anyway, while I was heading back to England weeks ago in Japan Airport, a blond kid—that I swear wasn't natural at all—was speaking _loudly _in English. I think he was confident enough Japanese wouldn't understand him—said so himself, English of course—even insulted their intelligence. Kept insulting and sneering then suddenly babble about foolish and worthless Muggle contraption. Mind you, he was vomiting just a while ago after the plane from England came. Sorry—got off track again. Point is I overheard him about 'Nutty Harry'. He was starting to mime about his wild yelling of You-Know-Who's return. His continuous actions were starting to irk me in the airport so I perform a _little _help from an old pal in my pocket. _

_Sorry, I got talkative again. But don't worry, I haven't forgotten. I bought you strawberry horse, your favorite. What kind of brother am I to forget that? _

_Happy Birthday Ayame _

_I also brought you white roses, Ayame. Tell Mom I love her too. Of course I love you too. _

_Sincerely Love,  
Your Big Brother, Ryou _

Bakura Ryou placed down the pen and from the swing he's standing; there was a moment of silence. There was a fading light of gold from his shirt then he's eyes were into slits. He turned his head to the raven-haired boy in the other swing, glaring dangerously in a deep voice. "Mind your own business, boy."

**:":":":**

The weatherman today said that it's going to be all heat and high temperature. The sun will be dumping thick layers of so much heat today. But then again, the forecaster usually is wrong. Aside from weather, there weren't much news except for more muggle crimes in the muggle world. More muggle politics, muggle culture, muggle deaths and crimes and economical crisis. Nothing weird, no superstitions or anything peculiar. Peculiar to a muggle that is.

Harry Potter was outside the Dursley's house, eavesdropping on the radio on the neighbor's radio just at the window. He's been there for straight hours, falling asleep for sometime on the tree branch. Harry had to give up the "flowerbed by the window" trick. Giving up finally on the muggle news he'd been hearing, he snuck away for a while to get his electrified-like tingling in his feet out.

Life in privet drive was twice as miserable as it was. If woe is deadly, Harry would be long dead by now. During the fourth year, Harry suffered the pain of the death of Cedric Diggory, Hufflepuff perfect, seeker and triwizard champion (minus Harry). Worst of all, he's Cho Chang's, Harry's dream girl, boyfriend. The guilt of letting Cedric die, weighed heavier by Cho's sad face, and the fact that Voldemort, the Dark Lord feared by the Wizarding World, has finally returned.

Being the only living person who've seen Voldemort's risen, it was difficult to caution everyone of his return when there were no proof except a witness they think is a lunatic and an attention-seeker, much to Harry's displeasure. Fortunately, his friends, Ron Weasley and Hermoine Granger, his Godfather—Siruis Black, a _convict_ in hiding, along with Professor Dumbledore and the rest (Harry wouldn't consider Severus Snape, worst professor of all) believed every words he said.

Professor Dumbledore, head of Hogwarts and known as You-Know-Who's living enemy, has been invisible lately. Harry haven't heard or received any owls from him at all. Harry shouldn't be surprised; he couldn't write at all to Professor Dumbledore after last year. Harry felt ashamed and as if, he greatly disappointed the fatherly man.

Hermoine and Ron got the same results as well. Harry writes to them seldom that he's still alive (much to the Dursley's displeasure). He doesn't want to be very open of a quite recent experience with Cedric's death. Hermoine and Ron (well, mostly Hermoine) were careful to approach the topic though.

Usually he speaks his mind more to Sirius in one letter, as he has to avoid using same owls in owling him. Siruis doesn't reply as fast and informative as better before. Harry didn't bother about this anyway.

But even Harry was tired looming in the past—tired of thinking of that dark night too much and instead tried to be more informative for the approaching school year but he strongly doubt it will be the same. But he has to come prepared as Voldemort is completely back with his Death Eaters.

Ron and Hermoine were keeping him up with updates as much possible but they weren't much of a help, to be honest. Even they noticed Professor Dumbledore's inactivity and absence. Ron even owled him once about his parents' strange actions lately. Ron said Mrs. Weasley was jumpy, watching every one of them like something was supposed to attack them and her cooking weren't as delightful as it used too. Mr. Weasley was quieter that's for sure although he still keeps on blabbering proudly about the cards he got shipped from Japan about some fad game that's been rubbing on Ron. Hermoine, on the other hand, owled him some Wizard-related news. She stated in her parchment about a hot debate fought by Ministers and their Councils all over the world. If they were to put on act a new decree for "the minister/mistress of the ministers/mistresses in both the Wizarding and Muggle world" (Harry didn't bother to ask back what she meant as he have no idea about Muggle Ministers or whatsoever).

But those mails were weeks ago.

Not receiving any owls from them, Harry felt vulnerable and open like someone would attack him in the middle of the night by the doorstep. The only solution he found was to consult the TV but failed, as Harry was shooed for watching along with his Uncle Vernon. So he consulted the neighbor's radio. Sometimes, he'd read some newspapers of the nanny the Dursley's had, Ms. Figg, who lives alone with furballs of cats all over the place.

If there was, something weird he'd heard of lately, that was the Duel Monsters that's been appearing around the world. There were just holograms though and everyone blames KaibaCorp although they deny this and say it wasn't their company. Of course Harry takes a different take on this and it might be some sign of apocalypse or Voldemort's new plan but then again, Duel Monsters is just a game. Even he wouldn't think that far to relate a game to magic but then again, he never thought magic existed before.

One of the strange things again though was the aurora in the sky—well, it's not strange when you look at it scientifically. During this also, there were rumors that an eye had appear in Japan at the same night, sucking everything. That was what Harry was thinking most of the time as it was nearest he could get. For now though he's waiting for owls from his friends as they should be aware of this also, well, with the exception of one anyway as they are shielded from muggles.

With the entire thoughts racing in Harry's head, he didn't notice he just came by at the park down the Magnolia Street. There was no one since all the children were enjoying their summer in a happy vacation unlike him, stuck with the horrible Dursleys and waiting for days and nights to pass until the end of summer. With another exception though. By at the swing, there was the strange white-haired boy he saw for the past straight two years. He thought that he was just visiting but every time he sees him, he's at the middle swing among the three; writing a letter, exceptionally quiet too.

Harry's curiosity got the best of him yet again. He's been trying to ignore the boy and mind his own business for the past two years but not this year. It was by farthest he could get so far and this would just say that he admits missing the adventures due to his nosy and heroic schemes hobby. Harry, acting natural, sat next to the swing. He was just there, sitting and hoping the boy would offer a discussion but after a couple of minutes, he gave up and started swinging lightly.

Harry stole some rapid glances to the letter, swinging slowly and daring to peek at the letter ("Hermoine's going to kill me for invading a muggle's privacy." He muttered). He was swinging harder and higher to read better and it was worth it. He was stunned for a moment. Did he just saw the words James and Lily? Well, they're awfully common names. Maybe he's just paranoid but then again, he may be right…

He swung harder—he saw Harry, the word Harry, another common name—James—Lilly—common old school names—but you just don't find those three words together right? Then he saw you-know…was it You-Know-Who? Is this boy a wizard? But if he is, surely he would have recognized the boy for the past two years as the Boy-Who-Lived. Or maybe—he's a spy?

Harry was determined to know—maybe he's Voldemort's spy. But the boy looks young…not far from his age though and Voldemort was never the type to hire someone ever so young.

Harry swung harder and higher, forgetting he was supposed to act natural. The swing was shaking due to the hard swinging but Harry was too busy to even notice. He then swung too hard and can't see the letters anymore so he ducked lower only to slip off the swing and fall from the back of his head.

He immediately stood up, chuckling a bit at the embarrassment to act natural but the boy didn't seem to have noticed, which was good. He then sat at the swing again hesitantly but the white-haired boy had put down the pen by then. Harry curiously looked at him and he noticed a glow under his shirt and visibly noticed also there was a change in his hair and eyes.

He blinked. A trick in the light?

But then, his gawking was interrupted.

"Mind your own business, boy."

Harry stuttered, "I'm s-s-sorry."

The boy snorted, rolling his eyes. "Don't. It just makes you look more pathetic."

Harry growled. So he was like anyone else? A git. A stupid person like Dudley. He wished he brought his wand with him—wait he did. Though he has to keep it in his pocket, holding it makes him more confident and brave. "Well I'm _sorry_. What did you want me to say? Thank you?"

"You put up lame insults like you."

Harry was about to insult back when he caught the light again and the boy stood up, left like nothing happened. The boy came to a halt when rain instantly showered, bulleted everything with big drops of water. The two boys were instantly wet and Harry took note there's a gazebo in this park. "C'mon. There's a gazebo over there."

The boy turned back at him, nodding wordlessly.

**:":":":**

Harry was looking at the boy, studying him closely. He was just starring blankly at the droplets of the rain, which grew to a storm but both ignored it completely as if it's really nothing to worry about. This was his chance to start an informative discussion so Harry decided to take the initiative. Before he spoke, he glanced at the park clock, reading 5:35 pm. "I've been seeing you for three years here…"

The boy looked at Harry. He just said, "Oh."

Harry bit his lip and offered his hand. "Harry Potter."

The boy took it, shaking it back. "Ryou Bakura."

Harry arched an eyebrow. "Foreigner?"

Ryou shook his head. "England was my homeland."

"No wonder your accent and English is perfect." He said. "Why are you here?"

"What?" He asked again.

The storm was definitely getting stronger and violent every second. Harry was happy there were protective sturdy trees, and old enough to bear wide and hollow leaves around the gazebo or else the shelter they're currently taking in would have been useless with the wind thundering in a mad dash as well. "I said, why are you here?" He repeated, louder.

"I'm visiting my mom and sister…" He said quietly but Harry was paying enough attention to hear.

"Where do you stay?" He asked.

"I-I stay in Go-Godric's Hollow…for a while anyway."

Harry's heart fell when he heard the familiar location but moved on with a more serious expression. "Then why are you here?"

Ryou was beginning to dislike this conversation, as he would have just preferred starring in the rain and talking with Bakura who just suddenly spoke. But of course, Ryou would rather get his way out of this without any hurt feelings or conflicts. Trying to say nicely and give a hint, he just said. "Nothing, really." So he stared at the rain again.

But Harry was thinking differently. This "Ryou" could have been in Godric's Hollow to watch the former residence of the Potters then staying here in Privet Drive to spy on Harry. He must be writing something for daily reports and then owl it to Voldemort. And what's with the change of attitude? Maybe he's under the Imperius Spell? Or he's just that good in acting?

"You've been sitting in the second swing from both right and left, writing a letter for nothing?"

Ryou frowned silently but stayed patient. "It's just something I do every year."

Harry pressed on. He's getting to something that's for sure. "Is it for someone?"

Ryou jerked his head at Harry who didn't flinch. "You've been reading my letter?" He asked indignantly.

"No."

"Then stop asking!"

"Why? Is it something as a secret or done secretly?"

"Well! People just mind keeping their own personal life as a secret!"

"Not if it's something terrible."

Ryou froze on that. He began to quiet down, keeping his head low and Harry felt he just got a jackpot. Ryou began to sob quietly. Harry was expecting another tail about the burden on the children of Death Eaters or even being blackmailed by the Dark Forces but he heard a different story. "It's THEIR fault. Mom and Ayame would be alive today if THEY haven't gone sugarcoating everyone. They twisted the truth AND left the case unsolved! It wasn't my fault—I didn't know!" Ryou broke into tears, sobbing silently.

Harry looked sympathetic although he doesn't clearly understand everything he mentioned. "I'm sure Professor Dumbledore will be able to help you."

Ryou tilted his head, his tears flowing like stream even more when his eyes grew into marbles. "YOU'RE a **Wizard?**"

Harry looked confused. "You didn't know?"

Before Harry could react, there was the faint glow again under his shirt and the sudden change in both appearance and attitude. He leaped away outside the gazebo for good three feet away with a hand in his pocket. Harry stood up at this with a hand in his pocket too. There could be some breaking of rules.

"YOU DAMNED—YOU TALKED MY YADONOUSHI INTO THIS YOU DAMNEDWIZARDS!"

Harry looked more confused. "What are you talking about?" He shouted over the raging storm, his glasses covered in wet water, blurred and Harry trying to make up a better view.

"I TOLD YOU RYOU, THE MINISTRY ISN'T **THAT** STUPID!"

With that, "Ryou" had snatched his wand from his pocket and Harry had done the same thing with Expalliarmus in his mind, as he needs more answers to gain but to too much surprise of Harry's, he halted in taking out his wand in mid-air when a _card_ flew right pass his neck from Ryou's pocket. "What the—"

Harry could have sworn the storm grew darker and the thundering wind had silenced down like a silent whisper. The sky wasn't gray—it was _black._ The thick pine and oak trees were fading from sight as well, darkness eating up the view from Harry's eyes. From pitch-blackness then grew next purple appalling mist and the loud rain and thunder with the running wind became an echo in the back of their heads with the darkness around, there was completely silence.

The stillness has then hovered away when a sound of clink-clank echoed, overlapping the once dreadful silence into a more ghastly and eerie silence. Harry felt horribly cold, recalling Dementors whenever they would suck all happiness from you---is there a Dementor here? Harry eyed around nervously that dark environment. His eyes quivered in panic—the white-haired boy was missing from his eyesight. Harry almost held his breath, tightening his grip to his wand. He already took out his wand out just in case, as this is a sign of great hazard.

Harry had this instinct to spin around and there was a silver rusty knight with red cape billowing from the enigmatic knight's shoulder coming in view. However, there was no head. It faintly reminded Harry of Sr. Nicholas or Nick, the Nearly Headless Ghost. But this was no time for recalling.

Harry was looking very pale and freezing in the coldness. Unknown to him, Ryou was smiling sinisterly, seeing the pale expression of Harry as mortals couldn't possibly survive in the Shadows long enough before the Shadows would swallow their entire entity however; there was a problem Ryou can't pinpoint when he as well felt eerily cold. Before he knew it, warmth in his body evaporated and only felt coldness.

Harry heard a "thud" in the silence, waking up from the trance. He ran away from the coming knight and saw Ryou, kneeling on the ground in tears. Harry sensed the grave vibe—of a Dementor. "EXPACTO PATRONUM!" Harry shouted, pointing his wand at the hovering Dementor over Ryou.

The corporeal white silver stag formed in thin air, charging to the retreating Dementor. Harry aided Ryou to stand up, arguement and suspicious all forgotten. It was then after few moments later did he noticed was the gray sky, running wind and thundering storm with the bulleting rain. His heart was pounding so fast and mind fully focused with the Dementor and the trepidation of its dangers that he failed to notice the silence to noise again. But yet, it was still horribly cold.

"_Otosan...Okasan…_"

Harry heard Ryou mutter followed by several odd words…or were they names—those faintly sounded familiar to him but nevertheless weird and uncommon. He was still shaking and Harry had a lot in his mind. Dementor? Headless knight? Then Ryou? Then there are those Shadows. Then he just used a spell! He's going to get an owl soon for breaking yet more rules! He's expelled!

"Pharaoh…"

Harry caught the last word and found Ryou gritting his teeth with tears streaming down his eyes. Without any more word, tears had dried and there was heavy breathing. Harry unconsciously helped Ryou stand up, still shaking and wobbly but regained his composure fast. Harry felt his body shaking, still in thought of all the problems he just had to explain and solve fast. Then suddenly, he felt the throbbing feeling in his forehead.

Harry left Ryou and aided his own scar instead. It was burning so hard he has to grit his teeth, shut his eyes closed, and rub it so hard it turned red. Ryou was looking at him curiously with a weak face when he learned that he was still shaking. Realization dawned further when he _wasn't_ shaking at all—the ground.

"Harry!" Ryou croaked, his voice still shaky and dry.

Harry barely heard audibly Ryou calling at him. In his whole five years in life in being a wizard, he had never felt his scar burn this much. And nor had this EVER happened to him…

There were pictures blinking madly, flashing continuously right before Harry and he have no control over anything but to watch. He can't blink or see himself but his mind was projecting unfamiliar pictures he doesn't recognize completely at all. There were vivid pictures of gray, starring at him right in the eyes and they were repeatedly flashing, as if trying to tell him something. Harry couldn't honestly keep up with all those flashes—there were going too fast for him to follow and study each of the pictures but that was what he thought. Amazingly, one preview of one blinking scene was enough for him to remember like it was already a part of his memory.

A stone tablet carved in hieroglyphics Ancient Egyptian language with drawings that was outstandingly understandable for Harry—a sleeping Egyptian stone mummy with a round thick platform, bearing seven empty slots like accessories reserved to the mummy—a scarlet serpent-dragon with two overlapping jaws right above each other—A crystal water muscular beast with bloody slit eyes and ferocious teeth—A shining gold griffin with admirable wings of a dragon that strikingly looks like a phoenix—A goblet made out of pure black gold and ornamentals of white onyx—A thick 8-feet empty and text-less tablet—A gigantic black serpent with dim blue spikes along its vertebrae—Then two Egyptian persons who oddly looked familiar to Harry but too blurry to make out, as the other pictures were then a big blur.

Although…

A picture had appeared, clear and colored: a man at the back of a horse with his other men. Tan-skinned, dim white hair and periwinkle eyes

"OI POTTER!"

Harry opened his eyes; blinking several times as he adjusts himself back to reality where he has control over something. He felt weird, as if he left earth and life for a very long time but returning in such a quick moment. Harry had to catch his breath upon realizing he had _forgotten_ to breathe. When his eyes were cast upon the voice that called him, he saw again the man he last saw from his vision. However as the appearance sink in better, he saw Ryou instead.

"Hey…" He said doubtfully for some reason, as he still tries to register everything. "…Ryou."

Ryou rolled his eyes, shaking his head. Harry took note of the change in attitude and appearance again but before he ponders on that, he just noticed that they were in a well-kept house with the common Britain landscape instead of the gazebo where he last remember they were. "Erm…were are we?" He asked, looking at the peaceful state of the house with fire in the fireplace emitting enough warm for him to try himself along with the blanket he has on the sofa.

There were bookshelves all around filled with books and some scattered in random places. It faintly reminded of Harry the burrow but this was definitely built with better money than the Weasley's have (not that he is disgusted with their poor budget). There were candles all around, wooden chairs and tables and expensive carpets with not the tinniest spots Harry could see. A clock had hung on top of the fireplace, its pendulum swinging and its hands ticking—looking like an ordinary muggle clock, reading 6:50 pm. The room was also kept dimmed from outside light except for the warm fire by the fireplace. There were also ornaments of potted plants and some small ones hanging by the corner.

Ryou shrugged. "In my house."

Harry relaxed in the sofa after hearing that. He pulled the provided blanket to warm himself up. At the glass table in front was a warm tea provided for him. It was just peaceful… "_WHAT?"_ He bellowed suddenly, sitting up and throwing the blanket away. "Bloody Hell—you live in Godric's Hollow! My aunt and uncle are going to kill me!"

"If you don't keep your voice down, they won't be _able_ to." Ryou threatened dangerously, completely annoyed. "There was an earthquake, bast—Harry…"

Harry once again saw the change in appearance and attitude but would question that later. He was indeed hazy by the eyes and he can hear in his head faint buzzing that irk him more (but too tired to throw frustrations) "An earthquake?" Ryou nodded. "Why doesn't there seem to be an earthquake?" Harry asked quietly, apprehensive. "and how did we get here so fast?"

Ryou bowed his head slightly. "I thought you were a wizard…"

"I am!" Harry abruptly answered.

"We apparated." Ryou said. "If you peek outside the window, you'll see the damages of the earthquake. I used Reparo around the house earlier…"

Harry gaped at him. "You just _used_ magic? You're going to be expelled!"

Ryou averted his eyes to the fireplace, as if finding the dancing grotesque fire interesting. "I don't go to any wizarding school…" Ryou paused, and then he glanced at Harry, looking remarkably different again. "Besides, I have a permit to do so. I live by my own so my dad got me a permit from the Ministry."

"You don't go to any wizard school?"

"I live in the Muggle Society." Ryou snapped at Harry.

"But how were you able to use magic? And you apparated _both_ of us here."

"Home-schooled." Ryou said, his patience running empty fast. "Now let me ask. Are you THE Harry Potter?"

Harry frowned at the question but nodded anyway. "Yes…"

Ryou looked at the boy's forehead and confirmed he was telling the truth due to the lightning bolt scar in his forehead. "Just confirming. Harry's an awfully common name."

Harry looked at Ryou who became quiet again, starring back at the fire but still hasn't lost that blood pool in his eyes. "So…we're not at war anymore? You were obviously _furious_ at wizards…and you are one."

"I was pertaining to the general public, Potter. That scar in your head seemed to have made you denser."

Harry was too ill from the insults and shouting from earlier now so he decided to ignore that and continued, "Well, are you mad at me?" He asked, sipping slightly at the provided tea.

Ryou was unusually calm. Harry already took note that whenever he has those pair of red eyes, he would be snappish and impatient while if he has the brown doe pair of eyes, he'd be that tolerant and behaved boy. But now, holding that pair of blood eyes, he was quiet. "I have respect towards the Potters and their family friends…"

Harry didn't say anything, willing to let him do all the talking. Harry lay at the sofa again comfortably, starring at Ryou who was gazing upon the fire. Harry waited patiently, not willing to lose this chance to actually hear something from someone about his family. He's also willing to hear some truth from the boy and get some answers. He's also very much willing to do this slowly as both seems to be weary and enjoying the tranquility and serenity around the house's atmosphere.

Harry then heard Ryou grunt something in an inane voice then finally spoke again. "Potter, be sure to keep the silence because it's not easy explaining. My real name is Gabriel Wind—shut up Potter—my full name is Gabriel Potter Wind. And let me add, I'm not proud of it."

Harry was gaping shockingly at Ryou. Not about the last part, but for the part that…that…that…

"We're cousins." Ryou said as a matter-of-factly. "Stop starring. It's very disturbing. If you were a woman, well—shut up!"

Harry looked at Ryou curiously, barely hearing him through the buzzing ringing annoyingly in his ears.

"Anyway, before you say anything, let me do the talking." He said, gravely solemn. "My mother was a sister of your dad, James Potter---I said SHUT UP Potter and let me finish—James Potter was my uncle on my mother's side. Pureblood, yes. She married another pureblood and then they got busy in the bed and poof—do you want me to do the talking or what?"

Harry, lost in energy and right thinking to barge in as Ryou was explaining, looked curiously at Ryou again at his questionable outbursts and noticed with his keen observational skills, his eyes glancing every passing minute at the clock and Harry was suspicious that Ryou was doing so so secretively but decided against it to question him. His mind seems to be upset about thinking. Growing impatient, he busied himself on finishing the delicious tea, which gladly did and he began to empty his cup while looking at Ryou, waiting for him to finish his story.

Ryou sighed sharply, completely irritated. "No more distractions then." He muttered. "Let me explain things slowly but the story is very ironic so that's impossible. When your parents died, you were supposed to stay with us but there's a bloody big problem. My father was a Deatheater so obviously, we can't keep you. Mom broke up with _Dad_ anyway even after Dad betrayed the Dark Lord then ended up dying." He paused and Harry could have sworn Ryou smiled at that. "Then we still can't keep you because Mom got busy again and decided to marry another dude. Apparently my step-dad and I had a half-sister. My step-dad's a muggle so we thought that it was still best for you to stay with the Hurslee…whatever their name is…anyway the Dark Lord still has his eyes on us so we had to stay away from you.

That's it."

"_That's_ it?" Harry asked disbelievingly, as if a sudden power and supernatural energy came upon him. He then stood up, stomping his feet. "THAT'S IT?"

Ryou sighed under his breath. "Don't throw your anger on me. I was three when they decided to let you live a miserable life and I didn't even know I had a cousin—nor did I even know the whatsits to begin with. And I'm not for one to record our family history."

"But they _let_ me keep an awful 14 years of life under the roof of the kind of…_THEM_ when I could've lived more a decent life?" He said indignantly.

"Decent life?" He laughed bitterly. "Try getting killed BEFORE you even know you're a wizard. Yep, decent life. Try short life." Harry exhaled angrily through his nose, his anger flaring out again every passing second. "If you want to be so angry, blame the Dark Lord to begin with. At that way, breaking teacups and shattering mirrors would be reasonable enough for me. It's actually fun. Break stuffs then cast Reparo…"

Harry dumped himself back at the sofa, chuckling a bit. His anger wasn't that awful though as Ryou was telling the story amusingly as if it was just a silly tale, not a family history to be kept secret.

"If you want, you could start breaking that teacup to begin with. It's my favorite to break whenever I feel like it." Ryou said, chuckling with a sinister face that Harry found amusingly funny instead. "Or burn the house. I'm not the one to pay anyway kukuku…"

Harry became more relaxed, failing to notice Ryou losing the red glint in his eyes and frowning disapprovingly.

The Boy-Who-Lived didn't see anymore the reason why he should ask him questions. Ryou seems trustworthy. He shouldn't make a big deal out of everything. After all, it makes sense for him. Why Harry just have to rocket in everyone's business is beyond him. _I don't really have to care,_ he thought. _Why can't I just bother my own self? I keep looking up on small things, wasting my breath…_

Harry found his eyelids dropping and his lungs heating warmly. He released a big yawn and his mind was almost blank. It was nice here in his house: cozy and warm and around another wizard—relative—was a good thing

"So, why did you change your name?" He asked flatly, leaning at the sofa comfortably and starring intently at the burning wood in the fireplace.

Ryou looked at Harry with a sweating face and his lip twitching to tell something but he was debating about it. Harry began to notice and Ryou hastily said, "Keep away from You-Know-Who."

"Oh."

"You need to go home now." Ryou said, standing up after one glance and a double take on the clock but Harry failed to notice this time miserably though it was done obviously. "I'm going to apparate you back."

"Okay…"

He looked at Ryou, taking his arm, Harry felt that sick feeling again of being stretch, and his eye sockets pulled back and empty. He felt the sick feeling in his stomach that makes you want to throw up and the mind played with like a toy. Before he knew it, he was in his room at the Durseley. The dirty, messy, filthy old room.

"Bye Harry. It was nice meeting you."

"Bye to you too."

/_ ...baka, sore nai chudoku deshita!_ /

Harry jerked awoke instantly from the trance like those familiar yet unknown mutterings were incantations to awaken him. With that, Harry blinked his eyes and he made an instinctive whirl for the mysterious voice when he realized Ryou apparated gone. The Boy-Who-Lived sighed, massaging his head and taking off his glasses, blinking several times and squeezing his eyes closed. His eyes grew dry and tired and his head felt horrible. He then just felt his throat sore and he would be croaking like a frog but Harry refused to go downstairs and drink but lay in the bed. At least the buzzing was gone.

Harry closed his eyes. He felt more relieved though, knowing he has yet another cousin—a wizard that's for sure and not some spoiled, and stupid, and fat brat. It didn't give that much of impact though, much to his surprise—then again, it makes some sense. Usually, if such secrets were kept from him, he would be mad…wait…it doesn't make _any _sense…

"_I wonder if Professor Dumbledore knows about this…I wonder if Remus knows…surely Sirius does…did they keep this from me? Why were they keeping it from me? Ryou's a nice person. He would be three of a friend for me in my previous years of awful life here. He does have a split personality. He really seems suddenly outraged at the mention of wizards…why was he mad at wizards again? Why does he respect the Potters and our family friends? And why didn't Ryou just confirmed I was the Boy-Who-Lived by looking at my scar? He knows about my scar…and what was that about earlier with the headless knight? And when the Dementor attacked—" _

Harry leaped out of the bed, slapping his own face. "I CAN'T believe I _forgot_ to ask all those questions! There are a lot of things he left!" at this, he pondered a little and he began to be suspicious again. Ryou left so many unanswered questions and his previous acts on Harry. "I need to write Professor Dumbledore—and Remus and Hermoine and—" Harry scurried to get a parchment and pen—the slow beating of his heart pounded again rapidly along with his brains—but then halted. He became weary again, sighing. "I think I'll do that tomorrow morning." He yawned, mumbling some gibberish and falling asleep. He failed to see four owls pecking outside his shut window, each carrying a letter with the impressive glamour of the waving aurora of various rainbow colors in the very dim and pitch black, starless sky,

**:":":":**

Bloody red eyes had snapped open like a sudden jolt of lightning had struck him. The once quivering eyes then stood like a pair of frozen statues and a low smile had tugged on his lips with his supposed brows glaring and eyes gleaming in joy. His jaw opened and fang-like teeth had appeared, chuckling. "Potter…" Then he shouted, "Potter has finally been revealed to Shadow Magic!" a laugh howled in that night.


	2. From Filling Fragments

**H****arry Potter and the Silver Core of Dual M****agic  
By Himig**

**Discl****aimer:**  
Rowling - Potter, Takahashi - Yu-Gi-Oh pfft.

**Summ****ary:**  
The HPxYGO world turned upside-down when a CEO & a mutt were invited to Hogwarts, a missing Duel King, the Ishtars murdered with another Boy-Who-Lived, and strange deaths of top muggle criminals, all because of Ryou Bakura meeting Harry Potter in England.

**Author's Note:**  
This is a general chapter. Nothing informative much, but still…

**W****arning**:  
In this chapter? Nothing really; just the lack of action, maybe.

:":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":

**H****arry Potter  
The Silver Core of Dual Magic**

:":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":

_Book 1  
The Gabriel Wind History_

Chapter II – From Filling Fragments

-

Harry found himself waking up early morning after a jolt of gushing burn from his scar. The scar could have burned his flesh into ashes, hurting painfully and dreadfully. His hand slapped his forehead so hard he would have flinched but it was difficult to tell whether he was gritting his teeth because of this or his scar. But he found himself awake for another reason.

Big eyes greeted him and he screamed in surprise, rolling down to the floor from his bed and swayed his free arm at the flying creature pecking him angrily. He struggled to stand up without accidentally hurting their small bodies with his.

There were four owls carrying parchments. One owl kept on buzzing energetically and Harry gave him the award of the most annoying owl in the year. The others were a gold owl, his own snow-white one and a regal-looking owl. Harry knew at once that they were Ron's owl, Pig and his own Hedwig but the other two…the seemingly crystal gold owl seems to be very expensive and familiar…

He kept his palm covering his scar unconsciously though it didn't do much to suppress the pain as he stood up and searched for his Knuts and owl food. Instead of Knuts and owl food though, he hissed more in pain through gritted teeth when his hand felt something sharp on his desk, jolting his hand away.

Harry saw shards of broken glasses scattered on his desk and floor. He looked up fretfully and saw the window broken. Harry yelled a dark word in a frightened voice. The teenage Wizard saw the horrible shattered window and wood around its sills into splinters. But Harry's worse fears came.

His room isn't dirty, messy, and filthy—it was dirtier, messier, and filthier. But those adjectives are of still an understatement. Not only were his stuffs scattered lifelessly on the floor, but also splinters of wood that were halved from his wall and poor roof buried them. There were also wood ashes that made Harry's bare feet brown and itchy. His bed was actually already footless and his blankets were screaming dirtiness. How Harry slept easily that night was VERY beyond him.

It's not that Harry cared about _the room_ but one, he cared about _his room_ and _his family_—if using the term "family" very loosely and lightly, then it would be correct.

Harry galloped to the door, pushing any blocking wood away but the owls pecked him hard, "Ow—Hedwig not you too—" Harry shooed them with his arms. He finally took out the parchment by their small legs. Harry felt nervous and eager at the same time when he removed the red ribbon tied on the regal-looking owl.

As if the regal owl had been simply a messenger, it flew off. The blue-eyed gold owl made an unflinching stare at Harry and flew off as well. Pig had stayed, flapping his wings _too _excitedly and Hedwig hooted angrily at the other owl. Harry patted Hedwig before removing the seal and sitting to his chair—immediately falling to the dirty and splinter-filled floor after the chair collapsed instantly. He hissed again in pain though by now, his scar gradually cooled again.

Harry stood up and continued opening the seal. He started with an old parchment-looking one from Ron with messy handwriting.

_Dear Harry, _

_ Hello mate! _

_ Guess what Harry; we're heading to Egypt again! But I'm excited more than ever! Did you know that Egypt is where Duel Monsters come from? Do you have any dueling cards? It's kind of hard to buy them. Mom doesn't want us spending all our money for some Muggle cards. Yea Dad's into it to! It's just so cool! They even have this haloraphic D-3 Duel Disk where the monsters come alive! You should try it sometimes Harry. Hermoine doesn't like it but anyway she agreed to buy you some cards. She would be owling you by now. I also bought you a pack. It only has weak cards but better than nothing right? _

_ Oh and if you want to know more about the game just ask me okay? Dad still can't beat me! You should give it a go Harry. There's monsters, magic and traps! It's practically a Wizarding game! _

_ Anyway I can't write more. We'll have to pack now. I was busy thinking of more strategies. Oh did you know also the King of Games? He's a celebrity in the Muggle world and he's awesome! He should have---oops got to go Harry! _

_ Ron,  
PS Pig hit her head so this letter could be a bit late _

Harry looked around if he had not noticed any packs falling out of the parchment or any extra items Pig is carrying but there was no sigh. _"It must have fallen off."_ Harry thought half-bitterly. He wasn't really interested in the Muggle duel but it was still from Ron and he knew how much it could've cost.

Harry took out the other parchment written in a neater and cleaner parchment. His gaze was every now and then glancing hesitantly and half-anxiously at the formal-looking parchment. Ignoring it, he read Hermoine's letter.

_Dear Harry, _

_ Hello Harry, how are you? I hope you're feeling alright and well. I mean physically and spiritually, Harry. It's alright to be saddened Harry especially when you're stuck with your Muggle family. But try to be more positive! It may be the beginning of peril but you have to rest for a while peacefully. This is like a preparation for war so you have to enjoy and give yourself a break. Perhaps a little walk outdoors would help you. It's calming to the heart to appreciate our surroundings although traveling wider than just the backyard would be healthier for you. I suggest you ask your Muggle family to have a vacation like by the beach, hills or maybe outside the country…" _

Harry rolled his eyes. Typical. Then he skipped over the next paragraphs and finally read the line that made him smirk,

"…_fine, I'll tell you, Harry! I never told Ron about this but my parents and I went to America. I must say that it was a rough work! Honestly, American's ought to be more sensitive and healthy in the mouth! And have you _heard _they're English! So rude and…bashing! Although America has a cleaner air than over Britain, the people there need some practicing to do. They are also _crazy _about that silly card game. They treat it as if it's real! _

_Anyway, while we were traveling to Los Angeles—and I've read in _3999 Ironic Facts by Jil Thomas _that Los Angeles means _The Angels _when in fact, they have the highest crime rate in America! Disgraceful—oh and then I met a man…"_

Harry doubled-check: Man?

_"…he's perhaps the same age as us. He looks so mature and intelligent…oh sorry Harry! Well I hope you're okay. Bye! _

_ Love,  
Hermoine _

Harry felt his smirking face widening. He had a visual image of Hermoine blushing shyly but stubbornly. Harry re-read the letter though (read carefully the paragraphs he skipped) to make sure if she have mentioned anything about the strange owl but said nothing about it or mention a single one. Harry made a mental note to ask her.

Harry found the pack she'd send him though she mentioned nothing about it in the letter. He pocketed it in his pants and Harry's mind clicked on the final owl suddenly, looking alert. He felt his inner voice laughing when the first thought in his mind was, _"I didn't do anything wrong!"_

Slightly nervous and heart-pounding, Harry flicked open the seal and read,

_Dear Mr. H. Potter _

_ Exactly between 5:35 and 49 seconds and 7:00 pm and 21 seconds… _

Harry's heart sank.

_...in specific regions and countries around the world… _

"_What?_" He whispered disbelievingly, reading but no words registering anymore in his brain.

_… the Ministry, along the other Magic of Ministries in other countries, is already sorting out the magical disruption. Until further notice, you are hereby, permitted to cast magic only for self-defense. All underage Wizards are therefore excused under Paragraph C of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875 but must still oblige under section thirteen of the International Confederation of Wizard's Statue of Secrecy and the Improper Use of Magic. There will be no further need for clause seven of the Decree whereas magic performed in such circumstances before Muggles. If unable to oblige under the following laws… _

But Harry was already grinning.

And just in time when he heard the familiar honking of car outside.

**:":":":**

"NO! MOM, MY DUEL DISK!"

Dudley, spoiled and fat, whimpered pathetically at his skinny mother and Harry's aunt, Petunia. Aunt Petunia looked rather satisfied with the news but forced an awkward guilty face, frowning sadly and soothing her son. She and her husband never like the game Duel Monsters even with such advance technology. Obviously, it was because of its relation with magic. Another is that the creator of the Duel Disk technology, Seto Kaiba, also president and CEO of one of the largest and main gaming companies in the world, Kaiba Corp, had turned down Uncle Vernon's proposal at the same day was delivered ("It was dead on arrival!" Uncle Vernon shouted).

Uncle Vernon and his family entered the half-ruined house with sad and crest-fallen moods, looking at their destroyed properties. They have evacuated immediately at the very first sign of the earthquake, taking much of their belongings and hoping Harry locked in his own room lying dead.

Unfortunately, he's standing right in front of them now by the foot of the staircase.

"You never even played with your Duel Disk." Harry said coolly.

Dudley snarled, "What are you talking about? I play right under your nose all the time!"

Harry made an imitation of an astonished person. "Oh! You call all those lousy losing _playing_?"

Vernon marched to Harry instantly with angry footsteps. "Listen here boy, I'm not in a very good mood right now—not only are you still _breathing_ but your mouth still can—"

"Say some wonderful facts? Of course dear Uncle Vernon!"

Uncle Vernon was purple and red as plume and apple. He was breathing heavy, prepared to tackle and strangle Harry but he made an instant step back and his wife and son followed. All the anger evaporated in an instant to fear.

Harry had taken out his wand.

"You're not allowed to use that—_thing! YOU'RE EXPELLED!"_ Uncle Vernon shouted hysterically, quivering together with his family.

Harry smirked—all his collected anger and wish for revenge emitting out of him like a venomous and deadly fume. "Not today, _Uncle Vernon._ I'm allowed to use magic." He said, flicking his wand with sparks coming out. He chuckled when the three whimpered and shivered immediately.

"Now if only I could choose what to use…" He said, feeling happier with their fretful eyes. "Oh how about the magic counterpart of your everyday torture at me? _Cru—_"

Without actually raising his wand, Harry found his wand flying off his grip and the Dudley froze in shocked. Harry's as shock as the Dudley and after several seconds, they finally gotten their grip when there was someone standing by their used-to-be doorstep (as it was dumped by bricks and ashes).

White-haired, pale skin and brown doe-like pair of eye—Ryou Bakura was standing there. The Dursleys awkwardly tried to act normal but Uncle Vernon was making glares to Harry along with a fake friendly smile. Harry did not fail to see Ryou's hand in his pocket. He then glanced at his lying wand, a foot away (it bounced off the wall) and Uncle Vernon was close to getting a butcher knife. It was time to run for it—Harry made an instant snatch to his wand and ran away, motioning to Ryou and the Dursleys were too nervous to shout at him.

**:":":":**

Before Harry was able to speak, Ryou said, "You shouldn't abuse magic like that."

"Well they likely deserve it." He said rather hastily, without thinking. He quickly added, "I wasn't going to use an Unforgivable Curse."

"They'd split your wand in half if you do." Ryou said, as if deaf to what he said.

Harry stuttered and said lamely, "Oh."

Ryou gave a smile. "It's not like Mom's going to find out."

"Mom?"

He laughed. "It's what my friends and I call the Ministry of Magic before. We used to be sort of…troublemakers and in case we do something pretty big, no one would be as alert if the Ministry of Magic is mentioned."

_/…Ryou, don't bore me to death with your reminisce. /_

"What?" Harry blurted out, stirring his head around and Ryou looking startled. Thinking he was imagining again, he shove it off for a while. While walking then, Ryou was exceptionally very mute.

Breaking the silence, Harry asked, "By the way, what did you mean by the Ministry not finding out?"

Ryou answered, "They're bluffing and sugar-coating in the letter." He said rather bitterly. "They're in a big mess, including the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Can't detect a single thing, including the Floo Network."

"What happened?" He asked, suddenly alarmed. Harry had never heard of the Ministry is such catastrophe and he haven't even felt a single disastrous thing. His heard started pounding—what if it was Voldemort?

"Magical disruption." He said flatly, suddenly blinking with red eyes. "It's not only around Britain though."

"What kind of magical disruption? It can't be something normal—"

"Of course it can't be normal!" He said testily. "It's causing trouble to Magic Ministries all over the world!"

"Have they found the source?" Harry asked earnestly.

Ryou gave him a look and said, "No."

"It must be Voldemort!" Harry blurted out. His insides were already trying to scream it all this time. True as it may be, but in the eyes of many, he was an attention-seeker. Immediately, he grew solemn.

Ryou was holding back a laugh but he said nothing what Harry had expected. "Wizards honestly think the name is frightening!"

"You're not scared of Voldemort?" He asked, his insides were hesitantly relaxing.

"Scared?" He laughed. "What are you—"

"Why do you call Voldemort the Dark Lord?" Harry asked out loud. After a second (he surprised himself too), he added, "I mean—I just remembered—yesterday."

Ryou seems to be startled and astonished and Harry heard that faint buzzing again, barely hearing Ryou answer. "Pott—Harry, it's non—"

There was a rapid pause and Harry waited. Finally noticing, Ryou was starring through his shoulder like in an amazing trance. Harry turned his neck to see a shop were they incidentally had stopped while walking aimlessly. The glass protected set of cards and packs along with posters hanging. Harry recognized them faintly as Duel Monsters cards. He turned back his head to ask Ryou about this but he was gone.

Harry followed Ryou inside the shop. It was apparently quite crowded and noisy. People kept on muttering to each other, their eyes set on something. Harry found it hard to push through and find Ryou along the people but a white-haired boy is not very difficult to find. He trailed after him and could feel eyes starring at him and mutterings behind his back. Harry ignored them though wincing about it, reminding him his horrible times at Hogwarts.

Harry saw Ryou, studying a pack and could see him chuckling. Harry's brow turned up curiously and asked, "Hey Ry…o…u…" But his words were drowned.

Harry had finally noticed.

Along the shelves were packs with occult-theme covers. There were gold stickers in it, indicating expensive prices, rare cards, and some sales and advertisements. But it weren't those that shocked him. Hanging by the glass shields were posters—posters he finally realized of Ryou and a British child no older than 11. Harry's jaw dropped and he looked at Ryou disbelievingly.

"Phil Mortimer wasn't really bad. He's young but he's good at using an occult deck too—'course, not near as me. I beat him pretty hard."

"A deck?" He asked, still in slight shock. "You're a duelist?"

Ryou made a look as if insulted. "I can't believe you have no knowledge of my greatness."

Harry laughed, completely unaware from the eyes and mutterings around. "I'm not really interested, though my best mate is obsessed with it." He added, chuckling. "He keeps on telling about the Duel King."

"Oh, that bitc—_beach_ in Japan."

"Wha--?"

Harry soon found himself dragged away from the shop.

**:":":":**

_/ It still sounded the same. Pharaoh's still the bitchy pharaoh in Japan. / _

_/ Bakura/ _

_/ Occulemency is tiring you know. / _

_/ No / _

_/ Of course it is-- / _

_/ I'm not letting you take over / _

_/ So you're starting to read my mind / _

_/ Your thoughts were broadcasted / _

Ryou brought back a pair of ice creams. It was still hot over Britain. Deciding to take a break, they sat down on a local park bench. They walked quite a distance and Harry was thinking of snatching all his stuffs before thrown out then move to the Burrow as soon as possible.

"So you're some sort of famous duelist?"

"Not nearly as famous as you." Ryou said friendly.

_/ WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT/ _

Harry looked at Ryou weirdly and Ryou looked back at him nervously. "What did—never mind." He said quietly, though secretively a bit suspicious already and head aching.

"You play Quidditch right?" Ryou suddenly asked.

"Yeah." Harry answered brightly though a bit modest. "Do you?"

"Well, no. I'm not fond of sports…Muggle or Wizard." He said then added shyly. "I'm more of a card and board game person…"

Harry cracked a smile. "Something safe?"

Ryou almost laughed at the irony—card games, safe? He nodded anyway. "I'm a bit…jinx about it though."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Erm…something bad always happen during duels and board games…"

"Like?"

"Erm…paper-cut."

_/ HAHAHAHAHAHAHA/ _

Harry made no comment but felt that his cousin is a bit weird, in a person way not Muggle or Wizard way.

After a while later, finishing their treats, Harry heard from Ryou about his life in Japan. A bit interesting, Harry thought. Ryou has a father who works in Egypt as an archeologist and Harry added about his friend's brother, Bill who also works there. He also mentioned accidentally about his deceased mother and sister rather grimly and Harry empathized a bit. Ryou is a friend of some famous duelist Harry had heard off but never really interested: Yugi Motou, Seto Kaiba, Joey Wheeler and Malik Ishtar who Harry seems to know more.

Throughout the conversation, all about the card game, Duel Monster seems to be mentioned all the time that Ryou explains clearly rules about it to clear Harry's confused head. It became so often Harry already learned the basics and was unconsciously thinking of strategies. It was then when he remembered about Hermoine's pack.

"Oh!" Harry searched his pockets. "My friend sent me a pack as a gift."

Harry took out the pack and opened it, only to be shocked when lots of cards filed out neatly out of the opened box, piling in front of his lap.

Ryou smiled with his usual friendly face. "Must be bewitched." He said, studying the card. "How clever."

Harry grinned proudly. "My friend's a Muggle-born. She's the top of our batch and if you ask me, the school. She's the smartest Witch of the century." Harry said, grinning even more as he quoted his Godfather's exact words.

Harry picked up the piled cards and started counting the cards, refusing the urge to scan each card. Ryou was peeking behind him, reading. "48, 49, 50…50 cards."

"I knew it." Ryou said. "It's a deck."

Harry looked at him quizzically. "I thought a deck consists of 40 cards?"

"She must've added 10 more cards for better options."

Harry looked at the cards in his hands again, disbelievingly. "This must've cost a lot!" He said guiltily. Hermoine definitely included cards that _he_ would like. By the first look on each, Harry couldn't decide at all which card to use. Harry decided to pay Hermoine some worthy Galleons and maybe give some cards to Ron who'd be feverish about it.

Ryou offered his help to construct his deck and Harry was more than happy to agree.

Generally, the theme of the deck is quite vague, consisting of weak and normal monsters mostly but powerful with right magic and trap cards. Ryou made a comment that he'd need a lot of "drawing power" to pull out the deck's power and Harry couldn't understand what he meant.

Late afternoon had already come and Harry doesn't feel very hungry at all even after Ryou offered him lunch. He seems to be suddenly fixed on the cards. He can't decide which cards should be added to balance his deck. Occasionally he repeatedly look at cards he just scanned when he unconsciously thought of strategies. It took them hours they hardly noticed in constructing a deck and Harry suddenly wished Hermoine brought several better cards.

"It's not very good." Harry said, particularly no one. "They're good cards but it's lacking a theme. Something that would strike the opponent in surprise…"

Ryou blinked at Harry, which was unnoticed.

"Naturally I was thinking of Wizards, Sorcerers or…Magicians but I can feel it's incomplete…but I'm definitely pleased with some of the cards. Harry began to ponder hard again, studying each card. He even joked if ever there will be cards on sell in the Wizardly World, he'd spend all his Galleons. After another thirty minutes, he set down his cards again.

He has his favorite team: Blade Rabbit, Ranging Flame Sprite and Sasuke Samurai; Aqua Madoor, Hayabusa Knight, Neo the Magic Swordsman, Slate Warrior, Divine Dragon Ragnarok, Kaiser Glider, Luster Dragon…; he's magicians: Chiron the Mage, Rapid-Fire Magician, Apprentice Magician, Magician of Faith, Blast Magician…; he's magic and trap cards: United We Stand, Mage Power, Magical Dimension, Torrential Tribute… but Harry can't still find his deck satisfying nor had he found any card that he likes best.

Giving up silently, he thought of buying cards for himself. The bad news is that he has no Muggle money at all. He's only hope is exchanging the money his parents left him in Gringotts but thinking he'd need more things than the cards made him sulk. On the contrary, he has a Godfather hiding but he can't say whether he'll have enough money or not. Sulking more for the fact that he won't be getting any cards, he sighed and went in conversation with Ryou again.

During the conversation, Harry found it a bit strange that Ryou loves fantasy and supernatural books and stories and that he actually uses an occult deck.

"Are you a pureblood, half-half or Muggle-born?" He asked curiously. "I don't really mind though…"

Ryou hesitated, as if wanting to life, his lips twitching and finally said, "Is alright; I'm Muggle-born…"

"Muggle-born?" Harry asked, shocked. "But I thought—"

"Half-half!" Ryou corrected quickly. "Sorry."

"So you're mother's a Muggle-born?" He asked quietly, racking his brain a little and his eyebrows furrowed. Something was telling him he heard Ryou mention about his parents yesterday—or was it yesterday—but his mind just can't give Harry any answer. "Or a half-half…"

Ryou's eyes softened a bit, realizing how this statement meant. "Muggle-born."

"How did she die?" Harry asked almost immediately and he felt ashamed after a second. He remembered how dodgy Ryou already is with his family. "—sorry, nevermind."

Ryou hesitated once more. "Car accident."

But Harry could sense so much bitterness in that voice as if there was more than a car accident…Harry sensed a Déjà vu…being told that his parents died in a car accident and miraculously surviving with a scar …but what if, it was a similar case with his cousin…if it was, he would've told though…

At near night, finally they departed and Harry made a run back to the Dursleys. He expected them to have gotten their stuffs and set off to a better place, abandoning their home with repairs coming soon and people taking their other stuffs. Harry hopes they didn't burn his and he felt guilty not feeding Hedwig for the whole day after a long trip.

As he was running back with little light already, he saw that it was still late 4pm yet dark. Harry slowed down and his hand resting in pocket where his wand is. He whirled slowly every now and then, walking cautiously but when he titled his head again, he had seen the second aurora and when he did, his scar had hurt terribly once more. He swore, stomping his feet and clutching his forehead.

It was pitch darkness—nothing but the glow of a pentagram where a duel was going on. Harry felt his throat constricted and his eyes wet. He couldn't think of a better way but to kneel down and simply cry. His heart and breathing was heavy and he wanted to scream—but he remained strong. He held his very self and trusted him so much. He needed to go out there and save him—save him from himself.

Harry took his golden pendant, clinging around his neck that represents a triangular upside-down pyramid. It was this that connected both of them and he will use it to save him. He pulled it up and stabbed the pentagram like a sword, screaming as the light emerges and suck him. Before he knew it—he was there—standing with green glow flaring. Harry pushed him away from the light—his friend's eyes were red filled with anguish as they stare back at him, wide-eyed. His heart felt light and his pain in better ease. Harry smiled compassionately, "I believe in you, Mou Hittori No Boku."

Then Harry was gone…his soul, gone.

Harry stood up—lying on the cold cement street and the darkness ebbing away slowly. He was panting hard—and then he was running back home incredibly faster. This, Sirius got to know.


	3. Trips In Egypt

**H****arry Potter and the Silver Core of Dual M****agic  
By Himig**

**Discl****aimer:**  
Harry Potter is copyrighted by the genius JK Rowling and Yugioh by the other genius, Takashi

**Summ****ary:**  
The HPxYGO world turned upside-down when a CEO & a mutt were invited to Hogwarts, a missing Duel King, the Ishtars murdered with another Boy-Who-Lived, and strange deaths of top muggle criminals, all because of Ryou Bakura meeting Harry Potter in England.

**Author's Note:**  
This is a chapter that happened before the following events narrated.

**W****arning**: I'll skip this part to avoid spoilers. But there's nothing much to worry about if you read Harry Potter.

**:":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":**

**H****arry Potter****  
_The Silver Core of Dual Magic_**

**:":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":**

Book 1_  
The Gabriel Wind History_

Chapter III – Trips in Egypt

-

Malik Ishtar had never realized how boring his life was.

From birth to childhood, he was a prison away from the light, reading books all the time. Not only did he suffer hard as a GraveKeeper, he made a darker future ahead of him. Alas, it was the revenge against the Pharaoh, who he had thought, brought all the miseries in his life—all the curses He had bestowed upon he and his family. And it was because of a misleading message of some person he hates.

As he recall upon this, he felt disgusted and ashamed of himself. Thinking from a different point of view like what he is now, he had now realized how mushy and low he had approach in every thing he could remember. Maybe the affinity for motorcycles (and often tickets from polices) was only the right and reasonable choice he made.

Malik was sick of himself.

He made certain changes after the Battle City, wherein he had almost accomplished the revenge against the Pharaoh, attaining the ultimate power and probably world domination that he recently laughs at. Malik appreciate his sister much, Isis Ishtar who had decided to die if he was to fall in his own darkness (A/N: manga, Duel Tower when Kaiba ordered to set-up the bomb while Malik and Yami were dueling. Isis stayed instead as she would rather die for him. Mind you, Kaiba remembered his dirty trick when he was losing against Yami in Duelist Island). But of course, he can't stand telling that to others but it stays as a personal love. As for his _pals_ (Malik always snicker at this), he somewhat appreciate their share of friendship to him. But then again, it's too mushy for him to admit and handle.

As Malik always prefer outside nowadays under the sun, he was nearly never found inside home. Most of the time he drives around his motorcycle he brags about, break some rules in the street and simply just take a look at cities. He dresses still the same but smiles more often. Still, he still stays near a person in a foot or more or touch anyone without using a pole. Yet he fined his attitude hilarious. It was true though—he's not a real people person. Perhaps to strangers, he's not, as he always find them stupid. If ever he does find something interesting in that person, he become a bit eccentric—which, again, Malik is proud of.

Another negative moment Malik find in the effect of his new self was his sister's homily. She continues to create philosophies and lessons about how people can change, how friends affect one person, how easy it is to forgive and forget and so on. He finds them too mushy for him, again. But Malik doubt about this. He suspects Isis is doing it on purpose to irk him. It was not to be a surprise after all. Brothers and sisters were meant to annoy each other.

Rishid was still Rishid. Malik can't understand how he _wanted_ to be acknowledged as someone 'mighty' _personally_. Rishid was like a brother—in fact, a real brother already though not biologically. But still it was just…_wrong_ for a brother to serve…_him. _He still has the habit of pertaining to him as master, bowing to him occasionally, and keeping a quite tone of voice in his presence. After repetition of Malik's sermon to stop it, Rishid always nod with a secretive smile. Yet again, Malik find that Rishid is a brother who has the duty to annoy him too.

Malik usually enjoy the presence of Bakura—the darker side of Ryou, the mister goody-shoes. It was difficult though. He hates Seto Kaiba and Kaiba hates him back. While Malik prefers Bakura, Bakura's lighter side, Ryou prefers Kaiba and Kaiba prefers him back. Note that the term used was 'prefer' as both wouldn't seriously take the want of one's company a big pleasure and deal. Malik thought that this was an oxymoron.

The good side of this was that all four of them wouldn't _prefer_ to be a company of both Yugi Motou and the pharaoh. Ryou find Yugi a good company though as both have similar interest, like games and some books but he feels too intimidated because of the Pharaoh's presence. As Malik appreciate both of them for 'saving' him, he neither thinks of them as something of a friend or foe. Kaiba and Bakura just plain loathe them.

Malik, today was strolling again in the sands of Cairo, Egypt. He had just returned from Japan and it was nice to feel again the warm heat in Egypt rather than the cold temperature in Japan. He had to leave his motorcycle because he was afraid there were pointy objects hidden beneath the sand that would hurt his dear bike.

He randomly walked in places, getting intentionally hit in the shoulder by some black cloaked men who he wanted to hit back but they were in groups so was not that stupid to go against alone. Egypt was home of the mysterious and trade after all. He got to admit most were illegal but he's not one to really care. It was then until he heard the sound of mess—the most interesting he wants.

He found the most unusual family he had seen. They were all redhead with freckles: a definite father, mother, twins, brother, and sister. He yet found again an oxymoron. They were all speaking in English but a different accent. Malik happens to pride himself with languages (Arabic, Japanese, English) and he could make out their shouting.

"FREDRICK AND GEORGE WEASLEY—I TOLD YOU NOT TO TOUCH THE ANTIQUE MUGGLE VASE!"

"We weren't going to touch it—"

"—until you told us not to-.-"

"Naturally we did—"

"—and we found out why—"

"—we learn from life mistakes."

"Precisely Fred—"

"—indeed it is George—"

"Agreed." They said simultaneously, shaking each other's hand with their chin high and the two other children laughing.

"Arthur!"

Arthur Weasley was busy trying to pay back the broken vase but seems to be having a little difficult. "Wait a minute dear…"

Malik, feeling sympathetic and amused by the twins, approached the man and offered his help. "Here," He said, paying the testy man his money.

"Thank you." Mr. Weasley said, offering his hand. "Arthur Weasley."

Malik was hesitant—after all, he got used in the Japanese culture. He held himself a bit when he attempted to bow then hastily shook hands with the man. "Malik Ishtar."

"Malik Ishtar?" the freckled redhead boy repeated. "It rings a bell…"

"Agreed." Mr. Weasley said.

George looked at Fred. "It DOES sound familiar…"

Malik thought bitterly, _"How can someone who attempted to take over the world NOT be familiar?" _

"Oh for heaven's sake, Ron, Dad—it's Malik Ishtar—second place in the Battle City Tournament!"

Ron and Mr. Weasley had seconds to register the information before they started gaping at him and Mr. Weasley shaking Malik's hand vigorously and Ron too amaze to say anything at all.

"Ron, stop starring, it's rude!" Mrs. Weasley chided. "And—Arthur—please let go of the young man right now!"

"Anyway Ginny, how'd you know?" Ron asked, getting to his better senses.

Ginny looked at his skeptically. "Both of you were raving about him weeks ago."

"Oh."

Malik finally felt his arm dangling in his shoulder. He tried to smile at Mrs. Weasley who was apologizing and was stifling a laugh when she was, at the same time, chiding her own husband. "Honestly Arthur, how immature can you really be!"

"Mom, when are we going to see the pyramids?" Fred asked (or was it George?).

"Pyramids?" Malik asked. "Pyramids were just my outdoor neighbors. Maybe I could be your tour guide." He said, "you seem lost." He added when Mr. Weasley was having a huge difficulty with a map.

"Oh dear no thank you!" Mrs. Weasley said. "It's too much!"

"I don't think so Molly." Arthur said, frowning. "I can't just get this map…"

"Well it's settled." George said.

"We'll have a top-ranking duelist as our tour guide." Fred added. "Aren't you happy Ronnie-ickles?"

Ron, who was starring at Malik again after hearing the news, glowered at him and shoved him.

Generally, Malik didn't regret being their tour guide. It was also to his benefit as he missed the pyramids after a long period. The family was also keeping him amused all the time. Mr. Weasley seems to be _too _amazed by _everything_ around _normal_. Mrs. Weasley continues to reprimand Fred and George for their misbehavior (and attempt to get Ron step right into a trap inside a pyramid once). Ginny makes her the last laugh with her comments in every moment and scene. They were one witty family.

They stopped by for a lunch and Mrs. Weasley offered Malik a treat, which he gladly accepted. At this time, Ron continues to barge Malik questions hesitantly. As earlier and faster he answers, the more confident Ron gets and the more personal (and awkward) his questions are. It was then when Malik realize that all Ron wanted was to challenge him in a duel, which came as a very big surprise.

Malik still has his deck with him but very incomplete without with Winged Dragon of Ra. "I don't have the Winged Dragon of Ra anymore." He said as a matter-of-factly, seeing Ron's tense face as he shuffles his deck. "I'm not really into Duel Monster, in fact."

Ron's face completely became curious. "Why? You're so good at it!"

"Only because I have the God card." He said coolly. "Doesn't really matter."

"How did you get your hands on that card?"

"My sister's an archeologist."

"Ohh so is my brother, Bill!"

As if on cue, both Fred and George looked at each other, wide-eyed and mouth open filled with fried rice, Mrs. Weasley scolding them immediately, laughed suddenly, gripping to their stomachs.

Ginny watched disgustingly rice spitting out of their mouth and Mrs. Weasley shaking her head angrily, scolding them, "Fred, George! Watch your manners! Right in front of a guest, goodness!"

Fred and George's laughs soon died out; both swallowing of what's left in their mouth then clearing their throat. Fred said in an eerily formally manner, "Father, Mother, my dear brother and little sister. It seems there is a serious oxymoron right under our noses."

"Indeed there is, Fred." George said in the same manner. "Oh Fred, it seems our little brother is too dense to understand while our little sister is too young to know."

"While Father is ever so busy with his job for his dear family, our Mother should have known."

"Goodness gracious, yes she should have."

"We should have known." They both said, shaking their heads in a sad voice.

While the young teenagers were stifling a laugh, Mrs. Weasley was getting impatient with their joke. "What is it now?"

"Mother," Fred said. "you must confess: have you, or have you not, heard of _'An Egyptian Goddess with black hair and eyes filled with beauty and knowledge?'_"

"Malik," George said. "have you, or have you not, heard of _'A man of his style filled with dazzling passion and grace?'_"

It was eerily correct and Malik was dumbfounded for a second.

"No way!" Ginny said, completely laughing while Mr. Weasley was saying no comment as he was reading a newspaper while Mrs. Weasley was looking for an explanation, unwanted from the truth.

"What are you talking about?" Ron asked, as if they really hit their head.

"Bill's been talking about her all the time!" Ginny answered, still laughing. "Says about her colleague over in Egypt with what Fred states as, _An Egyptian Goddess._"

Malik looked intrigued. "But how did you know what my sister talks about him?"

Fred and George exchanged grins and shrugged. "We have our ways."

Malik laughed along with Ginny. Mrs. Weasley just shook her head and Ron was quite slower. Mr. Weasley then shared the newspaper, he's reading to Mrs. Weasley, who obviously looked alarmed and worried. Mr. Weasley folded the newspaper and handed it to Mrs. Weasley. "I've got to get some supplies kids." He said then leaving directly after that.

No one else seems to notice it and Malik doesn't know them that well to notice too. After a while, Ron and Malik were already in a tight duel. Ginny made a comment that they look like geeks playing cards without the 3D system. Malik only laughed while Ron's ears went pink.

After a while, Malik came to the conclusion that either he had lost his touch for about a month or that Ron is really good. At the start of the game, Malik seems to be getting the ups but he overlooked some details that Ron took advantage of. He suddenly attacked in one strike with some more following that trapped Malik as he was ambushed by it. Ron wasn't easily distracted as well while Fred and George were patronizing him.

"Trap Card Activate!" Ron said, flipping open his faced-down card. "Rising Energy!"

The current LPs: Malik with 3500 LP while Ron has 1000. The current monsters on Malik's side were Drillago with 1600 attack points and Vampiric Leech with 500 attack points only with a faced-down card and a continuous trap card. Ron only has a Koumori Dragon with a weakened 800 attack points due to Shadow Spell that Malik opened.

"Discarding a card from my hand, I could increase a monster's attack by 1500!" Ron said, a smile appearing in his face. "And I discard Maroon Dog. Because Maroon Dog was sent to the graveyard not in battle, you will lose 1000 LP!"

Malik doesn't seemed to mind if he was down to 2500 LP because… "Activate Quick-Play Magic Card: Battle Fusion. It will add my opponent's attack points to my monster! Looks like it's going to be my win." Malik said, looking at his Vampiric Leech.

"Is alright." Ron said, grinning broadly and Malik looked at him suspiciously. "I wasn't going to use Rising Energy on Koumori Dragon." –Malik, along with Ginny, Fred and George looked at him weirdly— "Activate Rising Energy on Drillago!"

"He's a nutter." Fred said, while George nod in a false sad look.

But Malik wasn't that stupid. "What are you…"

Drillago's attack increased to 3600 and another 800, equal to 4400 and with the attack already declared, Ron was a goner… "I wasn't expecting you to use Battle Fusion but more for me! Reveal Magic Cylinder!"

And so Malik's LP went down to –1900 and Malik was the first to talk after that shock, "You won," he added, "mate."

Ron was frozen in his seat and Fred and George started chanting some sort of incantation about a sudden miracle. He was looking at the cards as if there were some sort of mistake. After a while, he titled his head to Malik, offering his hand. His hands were shaking and sweaty but shook Malik's hand anyway.

"There's something you don't see everyday." Ginny said.

"Yea." Ron said shakily. "I just…defeated…the top two duelist!"

"Whoa wait!" Malik said hastily. "I'm not top 2! Never defeated Kaiba or Wheeler! Kaiba could easily beat me—that, even I know and Wheeler just fainted in our duel. I'm a good loser but you're a good player!"

"Whoa." Was all Ron could say.

Malik didn't mind being a "good loser" actually. It was true he never really have interest in Duel Monsters. His sister could easily beat him but he doesn't mind. Even he admits he's not much of an actual duelist and never will. He may be a good thinker (that, he DOES admit) but never a duelist.

"Ron winning is like raining in Egypt." George laughed along with Ginny and Ron shoved the twins off.

Mrs. Weasley just smiled. "Ron dear is after all…a school champion wiz—chess player."

"Oh?" Malik raised an eyebrow. "Looks like Motou could have a challenge."

Ron's ears went red and his face white while the rest laughed. "Really?" He said in a whisper.

Malik just shrugged and nonchalantly said, "A challenge, maybe, but not a winner. Even I know you're no match against him." Malik paused. "No offense of course."

Ron breathed in and exhaled deeply through his nostrils, shaking his head. "None taken!" He said, as if removing all the pressure away from his body.

Mrs. Weasley stood up rather wearily, smiling weakly. "Let's go now dears." She said.

"How about Dad?" Fred asked.

"Your Dad's going to follow us soon." She said, smiling. Then she turned to Malik, "Could you show to them to some more pyramids? I'd have to go somewhere."

"I thought we're going to the Ishtar's museum?" Ron whined and Mrs. Weasley twitched.

"And where are you going, Mom?" Fred asked.

"To the ladies room is it?" George asked.

"Well—yes," Mrs. Weasley turned to Malik. "Please show them around the pyramids."

With that, she hugged each of them and pecked a kiss on their cheeks. Mrs. Weasley gave a tight hug on Malik's arm compassionately and left.

When she was out of earshot and view, Ginny asked, "So who's going to find out what's going on?"

Fred and George raised their hands, and Ron and Malik obviously wanted too as well.

Fred spotted something on the ground, elbowing George. He picked up the newspaper, unfolded it only to find a parchment slipping out. George made sure Malik wasn't looking as they read the letter. They immediately pocketed it and they walked in an uncanny silence, following Mrs. Weasley…

Fred passed the letter first to Ginny as George tries to distract Malik. They were smart enough not to tell Ron yet, knowing full well how he would probably react. Of course, Malik can notice some things…

It wasn't quite the journey when Malik noticed something very clear… "Hey, we're heading back to our house!"

Fred, George, and Ginny said nothing while Ron looked surprise. "We are?"

"Actually…" Fred began but then…

"THE DARK MARK!"

Ginny screamed and Ron was pale as white chalk. Malik whirled around. Certainly it was darker and so was the sky—but there was something in the sky. Above in the dark sky were colorful sheets of aurora, endlessly moving but it was made eerie by a green dotted skull of constellations with a tongue as a serpent hissing out. Malik knew skulls and serpents were not very good signs.

Worse was just it was hovering above their house, standing out as it stood alone… "NEE-SAN!"

Malik went a run for it, followed by the Weasley children. They were hesitant to follow for a moment but Fred and George took out their wands quickly. Ginny was ready but Ron was quivering. Malik's mind was too blank to notice sticks by their hands.

As soon as he has seen the front door—wide open ajar, he made a run for inside and started screaming for Isis' name. The light bulb was flickering off and on and he continued to head through the living room. It was difficult to see around when suddenly, the light bulb gave up and there was pitch-darkness.

"_Lumos!" _

Malik whirled around to see three balls of light flickering on and Ron kept muttering, "_Lumos!"_ again and again until it finally lighted up. "Wha--?"

The Weasley children were holding out…sticks of different sizes. At the tip was light, illuminating their path. He stared at them and Fred and George grinned. "This is our biggest rule-breaking yet!"

Malik would have laughed if he understood what he exactly meant. He would have laughed if not he heard a scream, thuds and green, red and blue jet of lights shooting in the kitchen. " Isis!" Malik made a run for it, forgetting the Weasleys' presence.

Behind him, he could hear unfamiliar shouts as if they incantations. There were jets of colors from here and then, thuds and screams and shouts. He paid no heed, however—he was running, suddenly stumbling upon something on the kitchen floor.

Malik stood up quickly then he felt someone grabbed his leg. The man on the ground, lying had grabbed him. "Master Malik…"

"Rishid!" Malik bent lower. It was so dark but now he could make up the figure. He held him up but instead; he felt Rishid flinched and heard him winced. Malik was startled, letting him free out of his grip but his hands didn't go dry anymore. When Malik looked at his hands—dark it may be—he could see his hands drenched in cold blood. "Rishid…" Malik couldn't say anything at all.

"Malik…" He whispered, his voice dying. "Miss Isis…wants you this…"

Soaking in his own blood, Rishid raised a sealed envelope in air shakily that Malik didn't bother to look at. "Rishid, just hold still—" He shouted, alarmed and frightened.

But Rishid glowered and growled, "Malik, just take this and run!" He said, breathing heavily in every word. Malik refused to take the envelope, starring shakily at Rishid when the heavy breathing was becoming a dying echo. For Malik, it was very quiet. He could only hear Rishid's last breath among the silence. When it died faintly, he began to nudge the body. "Ri…Rishid…Ris-Rishid!"

_Crack! _

Malik made an instant whirl and another incantation was shouted, red light jetting at him. He rolled out of the way, sliding easily due to the blood, spilled all over the floor. He glided quite far but he retreated back quickly. He reached out for the sealed envelope by the floor, then slipping as he tries to stand up. He was prepared to run according to his impulse and instincts and die to protect the letter.

He went pass the kitchen door to the backdoor where the garden was. He hid among one of the tall trees Isis treasures best, breathing heavily. He was shaking so terribly he could not see clearly and visibly. Everything seems to be a blur and swirling. Everything around him kept moving—that he have to keep—to keep moving too. He couldn't feel how tight his grip is at the envelope he might've ripped it off.

_Crack! _

More incantations and jet of light appeared. He ducked lower, hoping that the fashioned square bushes would hide him, but the streaming light wouldn't stop. With all the lights, he saw a figure by the ground—lifeless.

It was dreadful.

" ISIS!"

She was not dead—she can't be, Malik thought. No injuries—no blood—nothing red anywhere— she was just lying—almost lifelessly. He was kneeling, unmoving and shaking, alone with her—no injuries right? She can't be—

Then her eyebrows twitched—then her fingers and eyes.

Malik managed to breathe in relief—she wasn't dead! " Isis!" He called, helping her to stand up.

The black-haired woman, wearing her usual archeology uniform but with the hat missing, groaned, standing up. Her eyes seemed to be dead but when she saw Malik, her arms gained sudden strength, gripping her brother so tight. She hugged his neck, ducked both of them low. "Malik!" She gasped. "Please—go!"

" Isis, what—"

"I love you, Malik!"

Malik was totally shocked as she hugged him tightly. Tears were rolling on Malik's back and he was shuddering at how wet his back and shoulder became and the uncanny cold wind blowing but before he knew it, he stumbled against the floor, his head hitting the hard ground where a stone met his head and he felt everything went black—flash of black but a green jet of light had penetrated the darkness. He felt cold blood in his head and as he opened his eyes, a cloaked figure was pointing a stick on him—similar with the Weasley children. He could see the figure, masked, and wearing a black cloak, smirked. "_AVADA KEDAVRA!" _

The familiar green jet of light struck him—he saw darkness and it then again penetrated it. It was as if fuming in fire—burning flame that would burn him. But there was a sudden light that sparkled dimly than ever so brightly—a sudden light that reflected the green jet of light. The fuming flame bounced off like a blade against a shield and a warm light spreading. And it spread in Malik's darkness, illuminating everything. When it did, Malik can feel his eyes opening again. He could see the plasma light from the light bulb and he could see the cloaked man—no longer masked, cloaked or standing. The man suddenly fumed in an invisible fire and left no dust…

Malik was starring blankly in the sky—dark—but no longer gloomy—it was an insult. Stars were sparkling so nice just below the leaves of this tree. It seems to be insulting—mocking him—laughing at him from the sky. Then above still was the aurora, moving, lively and colorful. It was beautiful to die like this. Malik closed his eyes, losing his breathing.

**:":":":":**

"Have you opened the letter yet?"

"No, Albus said we should wait for the young man to do so…"

"Is he really alive? After the Unforgivable Curse?"

"He is. He is."

"A miracle!"

"It's another Harry Potter tale!"

"The next Boy-Who-Lived!"

Then more voices followed, noisier…noisier…noisier…

"Preposterous! An Unforgivable Curse can't be a sign of You-Know-Who!"

"Agreed!"

"But the Dark Mark was seen!"

"And so was last year during the Quidditch World Cup!"

Malik then fell asleep again…


	4. Escapades In Diagon Alley

* * *

**Chapter IV - Escapades in Diagon Alley**

* * *

-

When Harry had reached the facade of the Dursley's house, his feet's steps became slower and tinier until he barely made any baby-steps and his eyes above the half-ruined house.

He had forgotten for the whole day he's incident with them. It wasn't like he's scared of them but he's afraid of the possibilities that were already options in his previous years. Harry had always wanted to get out of trouble with the Muggles so that he doesn't have to ask for help from the others.

During the first year, the letters that were multiplying and coming out from unlike place each day create a total fiasco that Uncle Vernon was driven mad. Hagrid had to come to the rescue for that and explain to him his Wizard case. In the second year, an elf trying to "save" his life, Dobby (now a free house elf), caused him so much trouble he had to be rescued with a car, bewitched by Mr. Weasley himself after they have noticed Harry's naught replies. While in the third year, he accidentally balloons his Aunt Marge from the insides when he was provoked (as Aunt Marge isn't aware of his little case). He ran away from home and met Stun Shunpike and his Knight Bus then getting personally greeted by the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. And last year wasn't any better. It was by far the greatest disaster. Ron had tried to call Harry, only to cost much trouble and attempted to send a mail by Muggle means, causing suspicions over the family. In the end, they portkeyed through their chimneys and a verbal argument occurred with Dudley's tongue lolling out uncontrollably.

Thinking what else could go wrong with no idea who could help him, he bravely marched in the door, quietly opening it. To his great dismay, the lights by the living room (AN: I'm not sure what is closest by the door. In the movie, it was a hallway followed by the dinning room. I'm not sure in the book) were opened. Harry could hear hushed voices by the broken wall windows (AN: again, this could be incorrect). He wondered what they were doing. He already thought that they moved out already. Were they waiting for him—to punish him that is.

Before Harry could touch the doorknob, he saw the blond head of his Uncle Vernon shot up through the broken pane. Harry was going to make a run for it through the backdoor or any means but Uncle Vernon was too quick; he had opened the door wide and Harry felt briefly blinded by the light.

"Boy!" Uncle Vernon shouted. He was red in the face but with a mixture of confusion as well. Harry wondered why.

Uncle Vernon was trying to say a word but was too angry to do so. Instead, he grabbed Harry by the shirt, pulled him in the house to the floor. Uncle Vernon shut the door angry but it made a faint sound and collapsed. Uncle Vernon looked more angry and maddened that he threw tantrum randomly.

Harry stood up and saw Dudley starring blankly and tiredly. Aunt Petunia however was quivering like Harry had never seen before. Her eyes were stiff yet big, looking more pathetic with her baggy eyes. Her lips were stuttering and her face, chalk-white. Harry saw that her fingers were locked to a red envelope with its seal open. It has marks showing Uncle Vernon trying to remove it from her. Harry looked up to Aunt Petunia. "Who was the Howler from?"

Aunt Petunia flinched and Uncle Vernon thrust his arms to Harry's neck. Harry, being small and quick, dodge and hid behind a chair. He asked Aunt Petunia again. "What did it say?"

Uncle Vernon chased Harry again but Harry whirled around the chair. Uncle Vernon tried grabbing him from the other end but Harry dodged. "Why is she so shaken?" He asked.

For a minute, Uncle Vernon tried chasing Harry around the chair. Harry suddenly noticed something about the letter, "how come the Howler didn't turn into ashes yet?"

Losing his focus about their chase, Uncle Vernon grabbed in triumph Harry like a wrestler in an ambush. Harry protested, feeling his Uncle's heavy weight and his attempts to strangle him.

After a muffled verbal argument, Aunt Petunia snapped madly then demanded both of them to stop. Her voice could have awoken the whole neighborhood, screaming Harry to go to his room and Uncle Vernon to act more mature.

Harry gave up for this night and obliged silently.

As soon as Harry got into his room, he went to grab his quill and a parchment to write Ron, Hermoine and Sirius a letter each. His thought also wondered to write Professor Dumbledore but went against it. But he has this feeling Dumbledore would know something about the Howler.

The following day, the Dursleys packed up their stuffs and Harry packing his books, cloaks, cauldron, and his other Wizard items along with Hedwig's empty cage. As soon as he reached the stairs however, Uncle Vernon took all his belongings, packed them in separate old boxes, and taped them angrily.

Harry wanted to protest but knew better to go against his Uncle's furious mood. He needed to get a letter first from the Weasleys, saying he could stay in the Burrow before he could be thrown out the house.

-

The trip to the expensive luxurious hotel was very quiet except for Dudley's whimpering.

Dudley was checking out his Duel Monster cards when Uncle Vernon had noticed it from the rear-view mirror while driving. Uncle Vernon shouted at his own son and snatched the cards, crumpling it and dumping it in his empty ashtray. Aunt Petunia was just quietly starring in a trance again and Harry enjoying Dudley's whimpering.

Harry just then recalled his cards. He put his cards safely in his pocket and he made sure Uncle Vernon wouldn't see it. He was tempted, however, to duel his cousin but decided to duel him firsthand with best cards.

About a not-so dreadful hour and a half later (Dudley's sufferings were making Harry's day better) did they arrive at the hotel. By the time they parked around the nice scenery, servants were starting to grab their belongings up to the lobby. Uncle Vernon seems to be angrier every second while Dudley happy at the sight of the hotel.

It was a definite 5-star hotel with pearly white paint and a marvelous white-dragon that the sky painted blue hung on top. Towering below the roaring dragon was a large KC billboard is professional writing that Harry suspected as gold. He was given a chance to stare at it as Dudley was gawking at it ecstatically.

He heard Uncle Vernon heave a heavy sigh. "Sorry son, I've been moody lately. So we're staying here until your birthday."

All Dudley could say was 'wow' in a hushed whisper that made his parents smile. Harry's bliss ended immediately.

Harry made one lasting look at the eye-catching billboard that made it most breathtaking because of the dragon. Harry's eyes were locked on the beast and muttered, "_Kisara._"

"What are you talking about?" Dudley said. "That's the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. It's one of the strongest cards in Duel Monsters!" He said proudly that he seemed to know many about the game.

Harry ignored his cousin and went in the lobby. Even he himself has no idea what he just said.

The people inside were definitely celebrities, businessmen, and rich billionaires. Some even look Asian and Harry had this image of Cho Chang all of a sudden.

Uncle Vernon went to get their keys for their suite, which he booked earlier. Dudley explored the lobby, big enough for ten bedrooms while Harry waited quietly. Aunt Petunia seems to be alive again. She was just sitting quietly by a luxurious sofa, reading a magazine but Harry suspected she was eavesdropping upon the chattering guests.

Harry looked around again and noticed reporters and media around. Even for a 5-star hotel, he didn't expect the media.

Seconds later, he heard the noise hushed and excited whispers followed. He heard clicking of cameras and saw female reporters glancing one last time at their mirrors. The guests were now crowding by the red carpet, aligned with the grand pearl door with carefully carved golden frame.

Sooner, people were hitting him by the shoulders, pushing him back and forth as they try to get a better view. Wanting to survive the crowd, instead of pulling himself out, he dived forward for a better view. It was easy as he is pretty skinny even for his age to move forward.

Finally, guards in black were now lining by the carpet, spreading their arms protectively and their bodies used as human shield to keep the people. The media was rolling fast: People were now nodding, whispering and sharing gossips to each other and some even screaming.

Harry then saw two very different people walking by the carpet. He could make out they're brothers though somehow because of their blue eyes but by nature, they were very unlike.

The boy probably taller by few inches from Uncle Vernon has a pair of cold, narrowed eyes and neat brown hair. He has a pointy, yet handsome face. He wears a white trench coat that gives a regal and powerful atmosphere along with his tight black shirt and pants. The clothes seem to be fancy but the silver briefcase in his hand gives a person the impression he's a serious businessman.

While beside him was a more casual, younger boy. Unlike his brother's neat brown hair, he has a messy black hair like Harry's but longer and deeper in color. He also has simpler clothing with white shirt and blue jean jacket and pants.

When Harry made one last look to the taller boy, who was now passing his view, like what his mind had done to the dragon, he unconsciously muttered, "_Priest Seth…_"

By the sound of Harry's voice, the cold eyes that reminded Harry of Severus Snape's had met his bright green eyes. Harry looked back, remaining blank in the face and so did the taller boy, if his cold-looking face was really natural. The pair of eyes met, as if locked but Harry didn't expect him to stop on his tracks. They're gazes were locked so tight as if it was so long that Harry didn't notice the boy had stopped. Everything was hushed.

Harry finally blinked. _They were facing each other_. Harry wasn't any less nervous when the guards in black, guarding by the red carpet pulled down their arms. Now they were really facing each other.

"You dropped your card."

"Card?" He repeated, as if he was insane, which made him stupid. Then he looked down at his feet, then realized, "oh…my…card…?"

Harry picked up the card that lied on the floor. "Thanks…" He muttered, still looking at the card.

The boy gave him one last gaze and went away. Murmurs followed and Harry could feel his hair prickle. Not because of the cameras zooming on him, but the card that he had never owned, yet familiar, _winked_ at him.

Even by Wizard standards, a monster card winking at you is weird.

By the afternoon, Dudley was extra aggressive; complaining about his favorite duelist had actually talked to Harry. His parents tried to comfort him with desserts, which Harry suspected did work but Dudley was taking full advantage of it, pretending mad tears dripping out of him.

However, this doesn't mean Harry was having a horrible time at all.

The fact that Dudley is envious of him made him happy. Dudley keeps on mentioning the businessman's name while chucking pudding in his mouth made Uncle Vernon twitch. Every twitch of his Uncle made Harry stifle a laugh. It seems that the letter he sent to Seto Kaiba that got returned (without opening the seal) instantly by the day it was submitted is still fresh in Uncle Vernon's memory.

By night, the whole family was sleeping in one room. It was big enough in fact. The married couple sleeps in a queen size bed and Dudley enjoying his waterbed with scattered chunks of junk food and pizza. Harry was left to sleep at least by the sofa in front of the TV, which is comfortable enough for him.

At the dead of the night, Dudley could be heard snoring loudly as Harry flips channels randomly in the TV while lying lazily on the sofa. There wasn't much on TV—celebrity teen Drew and his twin brother, Drake were in a controversy of loving one woman, oil spill in Guimeras somewhere in the east (Harry flipped quickly when he recalled Cho Chang), new orphanage built, some Japanese celebrity with the weirdest hairdo Harry had seen had gone missing, Muggle thievery at a bank and some dead bodies of criminals found mysteriously…

He minimized the volume as much as possible though he doubted it could actually wake them up with Dudley's snoring.

This was actually one of his best days.

Not only was he helping himself with fudge he found by the refrigerator, he met a new friend, made Uncle Vernon's day horrible, Dudley envious of him, not hearing Aunt Petunia's shouting and best of all, his Hogwarts letter coming soon.

Thinking about Hogwarts, he wondered if he'd be left in this hotel until he could leave for the school year. He hasn't received any letter from the Weasleys inviting him in the Burrow, making Harry sad. The last letter he got was actually late because of Pig.

Harry took out his deck and scanned them again. But actually, he wanted to check if they would wink at him too. He felt stupid.

When Harry was halfway through, he made an immediate double take— "The Obnoxious Celtic Guardian." He read. Since when did he have that card? And to his surprise, its pupils seemed to have looked at Harry.

Harry jaw-dropped. Maybe this is one of those Wizard pictures that have a living-ability but if they do move, won't they be in constant motion instead of making rare movements? Harry was suspecting he was getting delusional.

When he took off the card from his deck, there was another shock— "Holy Barrier, Mirror of Force—reflects attacks back to the opponent—Gazelle the King Mythical Beast—Berfomet—Polymerization—cool combination—Kuriboh—heh—Swords of Revealing Light—Black Luster Ritual—Black Luster Soldier—and _woah_…" Harry's eyes were larger than marbles. "_Obelisk the Tormentor."_

-

By morning, he awoke by busy noises and extra noisy.

"NO!"

Harry heard Dudley wailing, his mother trying to comfort him as his dad calls the food service to feed the family.

Harry yawned, stretching his arms. He said casually, stiffening a yawn, "wazurung?"

He was remained unanswered so he got curious. He saw newspapers by the table and read the headline with a huge photograph below that Harry recognized from the TV last night. Harry chuckled, "This guy's got some money for hair gel."

Harry instantly knew this celebrity must be some rich boy who likes boxing because Dudley had swung a punch at him angrily. "Don't insult him!"

Harry chuckled again. "You like this guy? That must be insulting for him."

"That's Yugi Motou!" He said angrily. "YOU MAGICKING FREAKS DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT—ABOUT---STUFFS!"

Harry broke in a laugh and instantly, Uncle Vernon slammed the phone after taking to the food service and marched toward Harry, fuming like a warm breakfast. He was in a much worse mood unlike his tone of voice in the phone. "BOY!"

"It's Harry, sir." Harry said. He wasn't sure but he was feeling good for an argument.

"NO BREAKFAST!" Uncle Vernon growled. "YOU SHOULD CONSIDER YOURSELF RUDDY LU—OWLS! PESTS—OWLS EVERYWHERE—PESTS LIKE YOUR _KIND!"_

Harry's day couldn't get any better. He caught the letter by his hand and tore in open immediately. He recognized that the owl wasn't from the Weasleys so it must be from— "_Ryou?_" He muttered under his breath, shocked. He expected the Hogwarts letter after all.

_Dear Harry,_

_Hello Harry, I hope you're doing fine._

_You'd be receiving an owl from your school by now already. I have a friend who's going to Hogwarts too and he asked me if I could accompany him. Maybe you could tag along. I'll be waiting outside the hotel by 9 am._

_Ryou,  
PS – My friend's not used to people_

Harry looked at the clock—past 9 am.

He made a mad dash first to the window to peek. He only saw people: guests entering, cars parking and service personnel. Surely he'll be able to notice anyone with long white hair.

Ignoring Uncle Vernon's demands about the letter, he grabbed a set of clothes, brushed his teeth quickly, washed his hair to make it look neat (failing dramatically) and shutting closed the door after he had left.

He ran the long hallways, cursing why they had to stay in such big hotel. He got lost in some directions. One time, he opened a very wrong door, causing a small commotion but he managed to slip past the trouble. But his running caught the attention of some guards, getting verbal warnings, which Harry ignored. He doesn't have much time to listen after all. All the running made him tired but the airconditioning cooled him off enough but he knew he still have to run a long way to find his way.

Finally getting back on track, Harry found himself making for it to a shutting elevator where a young boy was entering. "Wait!" He shouted. Harry pushed himself in as the elevator closed. He panted, barely hearing the woman greet them.

"Oh, it's you."

Harry straightened up and saw the boy from earlier. He was buttoning his shirt he hastily wore while running. "Er…yea…I saw you yesterday."

The boy grinned. "Yeah. _Onii_-_chan_ actually acknowledged you."

"Er…sorry?"

"_Onii_-_chan_ isn't a people person." He said, grinning.

"No, not that…the…_Onee-kan_."

The raven-haired boy smiled weakly. "Right. Japanese is my native tongue. It means big brother."

"Your English is pretty good."

"I actually have a British friend to help. He's good with languages. _Kare__ga bu kimi na no hitori_."

Before Harry could ask, he heard the elevator chimed. The woman announced the floor respectfully and bid them farewell. Harry and the boy both exited. "Bye." He said, trying not to sound hasty.

"_Sayonara_!" He said, waving and Harry could tell it was a goodbye. "_Boku__wa Mokuba!_"

Harry smiled a bit, "Bo…kuwa…Harry." Harry waved back as Mokuba grinned at him. He then suddenly called, "wait, Mokuba!"

Mokuba turned back, blinking. "_Hai_?"

Harry bit his lips. "Never mind."

Harry watched him go and turned on his heels. He wondered vaguely about his dream again—"No, it wasn't a dream…couldn't be." Harry muttered. The language he spoke…Harry could still remember. He was only able to understand the first couple of words then it was pretty vague.

_"Mou hitori no boku"_

Harry wondered if it was Japanese. And that boy from his dream…it seems he just saw him.

It didn't take a while when Harry was going to get an answer. By the time he reached the grand exit of the 5-star hotel, he heard whistling by the corner.

Harry turned his head to the sound and saw the familiar white hair except it was not long—rather, hidden in his black cap and a bit conspicuous with the black trench coat. Harry was barely able to recognize—believe it. "Ryou?"

Ryou suddenly smiled widely, walking rather excitedly to Harry. "'Lo Scarhead…mean Harry."

"Right." Harry had remembered those red eyes again. It's probably some magic he doesn't know about. "Ryou, do you know what "_mou_ _hitori no boku"_ means?" Ryou gave him an odd look so Harry immediately changed his question. "Anyway, where's your friend?"

It seems that 'Ryou' has been dying to answer the question. "He's waiting in Diagon Alley…he's a bit early." He added, stifling a laugh.

arry shifted a bit uncomfortably, as if he was with a stranger but he better get used to the fact his relatives are weird. "Er, how are we going to get there?" 

"Magic of course!" He said happily, a bit unRyou-ish.

They turned to the large garden filled with well-trimmed bushes and flowering trees surrounding the hotel where there were barely any people seen in one place at all.

Harry grabbed Ryou's arm like before and he saw him pull out quite a long wand from his trench coat. He then asked, "You're a bit…happy."

"Happy?" He laughed. "I'm…_ecstatic."_

-

Apparating has never been Harry's joyful experience.

The travel through Apparation made Harry very sick especially in an empty stomach. It gave him so much headache that he almost stumbled when their foot touched the earthly ground once more. Feeling he was going to vommit, Harry sealed his lips for a moment and gestured to Ryou to wait.

"Not a very fun ride, is it?"

"Not really." He said sickly.

Feeling better after a couple of minutes, Harry just remembered. "Oh yea, I still haven't gotten a Hogwarts letter."

"Don't worry. I got it."

"You got it?" Harry asked, surprised by the news.

As proof, Ryou casually took out an opened envelope with its seal removed. Harry grabbed it, re-read it, and saw it clearly addressed to him.

"You didn't…"

Ryou looked alarmingly solemn all of a sudden. "I found the seal opened…" He said and Harry looked definitely alarmed. "After I opened it of course."

Harry wanted to laugh but he couldn't believe it is Ryou saying this. "Are you alright?"

As if on magic, Ryou blinked and his brown, doe-eyes resuming. "Wha?"

"Something wrong?"

As few seconds passed by, Ryou seems to be grasping reality. Harry could tell Ryou seemed to have spaced out a bit and he saw his cousin fumed all of a sudden, muttering a bit, "Putting a simple spell…" "Getting backfired…" "Not doing a single thing…"

Harry decided not to question Ryou anymore. He read out loud his new books to buy. But before deciding to go already, he asked again, "Where's your friend?"

"_Shimatta_" He gasped.

Harry tried not to laugh, grinning ear to ear. "When you said he was a bit early…"

"BAKURA!"

The voice had stood out the murmurings from the crowd. Curious eyes began to see the tall boy that wore the very opposite of black cloaks the wizards and witches were wearing. People were parting for the boy to come through. Some were a bit frightened by the boy's voice; Harry saw the familiar white trench coat and the very cold eyes.

"Erm, Seto." Ryou said, smiling weakly as the angry, brown-haired boy grabbed him by the collar.

"Don't you play tricks with me." He hissed venomously. "I've been waiting for _hours_. I had to bear these junks when I could've done something more useful. Now, I'm taking all those wasted time on you…"

"Gomenasai, Seto." He said guiltily. Harry heard Ryou whisper something that made Seto lower his grip.

Seto Kaiba, Harry remembered, was his cousin's friend? This renowned Muggle and is now…a wizard?

Kaiba seemed to have heard Harry's thoughts. His eyes took note of the wizard's presence and looked back at Ryou. "You've got a really stupid spirit." He whispered.

Ryou all of a sudden looked murderous and drained at the same time. His red eyes glistening and Harry saw that it was no longer a spell that had backfired. "It wasn't me making you wait all frickin' hours. The spell backfired so stay me out of this—it wasn't me who cast the spell!"

Harry looked at Ryou weirdly again. He has the doe-eyes again and seemed to have lost his anger. He sighed. "Well anyway, got your things?"

"No." Kaiba said flatly. "I wouldn't dare going alone in any of these shops."

Ryou smiled a bit. "We should head to the bookstore—Flourish and Blotts—first. By the way, this is Harry."

For the second time, Kaiba looked at Harry with the clod eyes Harry couldn't bear to smile at. Kaiba smirked. "Obviously, my name doesn't have to be introduced. And I already know you. _Harry Potter_—The_ Harry Potter._ I admire your pride—haven't _murdered_ yourself in humiliation for feeling ludicrous whilst other people know your name for something you didn't remember doing."

Harry felt his blood surge hot and his eyebrow furrowing. Kaiba smirked wider in triumph. Harry seems to be planning to punch him despite the height difference.

Ryou obviously sensed the rising tension and suggested to head for the Three Broomsticks for some nice butterbeer, as it is too early for shopping. While going there, Harry muttered, "Not used to people?" He laughed bitterly. "He has tons of experiences dealing with hardcore _businessmen._"

While in Madam Rosmerta's pub, Ryou was very quiet and a bit jumpy. Kaiba was drinking quietly and Harry eyed from Ryou to Kaiba then Kaiba to Ryou. These two supposed friends don't seem to talk to each other. "So,"

Ryou seems to have just noticed Harry was there and Kaiba made Harry's skin shiver and blood boil when he eyed at him coldly. Ryou sighed again as if everything in the world is in his shoulder. "Sorry Harry. I'm…erm…got a lot in my head."

Kaiba coughed.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Erm…I'm sort of not allowed in the Wizard world." He whispered.

"I would be dead if I was you."

Ryou smiled a bit then uncomfortably said, "Yea well it's a family thing…"

Harry seems to have just noticed Kaiba was starring at him. Harry looked at the boy. "What?" He said rather aggressively.

Kaiba just smirked as if such was a victory for him. "Duel me."

"What?" He asked, deadpanned.

"The scar in your head made you denser."

Harry had a sudden déjà vu with his first meeting with Ryou. "_Now I think I know why they're friends."_ He thought bitterly.

"I saw your card—you definitely have a deck. Duel me or be a coward."

"Seto…" Ryou said, somewhat reproachful. "Harry's only a beginner."

Kaiba laughed. "So? Never stopped him before." He added in a lower voice.

Harry had this weird feeling—he felt he wants to agree and duel just to show Kaiba who he think he really is but a part of him is a bit scared—and is pretty sure to lose and just humiliate himself in front of this renowned duelist. Yet another positive part of him urges him to duel—a sudden excitement rushing in his heart and never to let this opportunity pass.

Harry bit his lips. "It's a duel."

Ryou looked shocked with his answer and Kaiba smirked, rising from his feet. "Excellent. But that would have to wait." He said. "It's no use playing without any technology working here."

Harry breathed out rather heavily. Part of him was relieved yet another part was disappointed. "So, we're getting our books now?"

Kaiba didn't answer immediately and Harry was pretty sure he made an eye contact with Ryou. "I prefer not to attract attention by being the company of Harry Potter as strangers."

"What do you suggest then?"

"You get your books and I'll be getting that pencil-length wood (Harry almost laughed) with Ryou. Whole point why I asked him to come—not feel stupid. You two could make a chit-chat after I'm done."

After Harry dropped by Gringotts, Harry felt a bit weird buying his own stuffs. He was so used being with the Weasley's company he almost called for Ron when he saw an advertisement of a super-large ice cream special with diffrent flavors with the size of a 5-year-old. Not only that, people were starring at him pointedly. He wished Ryou would hurry and be his company but having a white-haired friend would seem to attract more attention.

When Harry was buying his books (noticing the choice of book in the Defense Against Dark Arts—jinx job and new set of books in History of Magic), most of the wizards and witches were from Hogwarts. He recognized most but he ignored them. The general was that they were muttering, not caring, and probably even hoping, they'd be overheard.

Hurrying to get away, he left the bookstore and just in time to see Ryou. "You alright Harry?" Ryou asked, concerned. "You seem…"

"Upset, exasperated, fuming?"

Ryou smiled cheerfully. "Red in face too."

Of course he's red in face because just behind Ryou's shoulder was someone Harry knew…someone where his intestines were thinning and someone who is named… "Cho Chang!" He hissed anxiously, his stomach making one of its worst flips.

Why would she be HERE? He never saw her, not even once, come to Diagon Alley. He seriously doubted she comes here at all. Surely, he would've noticed before. But Harry noticed something else… "Ryou?"

Ryou was apparently stunned all of a sudden in his place. He looked so shocked that his brown eyes were so still it was as if he was dead. Harry then noticed he was starring at Cho. He seems to be a bit…red?

When Harry caught sight that Cho was making her way to their direction among the crowd, he dragged Ryou out of sight with his arm and into the farthest place, which happens to be the old-fashioned pub, Tom's inn.

When the two entered, a few heads had turned to their direction but generally ignored them.

The two boys were a bit shaky, automatically settling wordlessly to a table, not looking in each other's eyes. They seemed to be thinking heavily to consider one's existance. After a bit while, it became a bit awkward. It was hard to start and it seems there was noting to say. It appeared to have been a half an hour when both started to speak but faltered. Harry was the first one to make a complete statement, "Do you know her?"

It was very direct but it worked. "Used to be my friend." He said, lowering his head, his cap overshadowing his eyes with his white locks making it more enigmatic.

"What happened then?" Harry asked. Ryou only blushed red, turning his head like he didn't hear Harry. "Oh."

There was silence again.

Harry spoke again. "So, you used to be in Hogwarts?"

Ryou hesitated for a moment or two, eventually able to answer, finally saying with a confirming, "yes…"

"Er…" Harry felt awkward, talking about his love life especially in this slight déjà vu. "You're not together anymore, right?" He asked, sounding almost hopeful. "I mean—it's just…well…I like her." He said, sounding lame.

Ryou just smiled. "Is alright. Been dumped already." He said added bitterly and Harry felt guilty. "If you like her so much, then I'm not to stop you."

"Yea but someone else is stopping me." He said sadly.

"It's Diggory, isn't it?" Ryou asked, slightly grim and casual at the same time. "We never liked him at all…even in my state, I don't like him much."

"Well, it's not exactly Cedric…" Harry replied, starting to feel regret about the conversation. "It's just…"

"They're together."

"He's dead."

Ryou definitely has a flabbergasted expression, starring at Harry who was busy looking at the scruffy brown floor. Ryou didn't ask further about the topic and remained quiet for the whole time. Harry was left to think again about the night in the graveyard--the light, scream, blood among darkness but it was too vivid to even forget a single detail.

As if Ryou had read Harry's thoughts, he said optimistically. "Cho's a bit overdramatic though. I could understand her most of the time—probably the only boy who could but…"

Harry tilted his head. "I think you two are a perfect couple." He said honestly. "I bet you two have the same interests and shows the exact concern for each other."

"Yea." Ryou said, not noticing Harry's grim voice. "But what I think about her is just like a sister, I guess. I normally don't think girls overdramatic and incompetent."

Harry chuckled. "I could see your point. She looks really nice but that's just about it." He said, although he seemed to be a bit lying, it felt better. "Come to think of it, I barely know her…"

Ryou then stood up. "Seto might be done by now. Let's walk around for a bit."

Missing breakfast made Harry hungry so he treated he and Ryou sweets. Ryou only took very few because he's not very fond of too many sweets. Harry had helped himself with a lot of snacks for a little festive as well after an enlightening yet awkward conversation with his cousin until he could no longer eat.

While traveling aimlessly in Diagon Alley, Harry suggested that they visited the shop in the farthest of the street called Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Ryou made an instant reaction.

"Oh Fred and George?"

Harry nodded. "You know them?"

Ryou shifted uncomfortably. "Not really. A bit notorious, you know."

Then afterwards, Ryou politely refused, and Harry quite disappointed. Seeing this face, Ryou felt blameworthy so he hastily added, "You could go. I'll go find Seto already."

"Nah, it's alright." Harry said, shrugging. "They're still starting business anyway." But truth was, Harry wanted to ask any news from the Weasleys. He now thought if ever they are buying their Hogwarts stuff now.

While walking repeatedly around the alleys of Diagon Alley, Ryou accidentally mentioned his entrance in the Knocturn Alley. Harry replied that he managed to get in in his second year in a Floo accident. Ryou said he got 'posses' by his evil little spirit. Harry laughed at this.

But when they had arrived just in front of Madam Malkin's, they heard a noisy rocket inside. A small crowd was gathering by the entrance and passer-by looking, including Harry and Ryou. "I wonder what's—"

"—Mudblood!"

Harry muttered bitterly. "Malfoy."

"Haha, was _that_ supposed to insult me? In fact, maybe I am a "mud blood", coming from a wrench life but the past is thrown away and I'm not the one rusting in filthy, narcissistic feeling when your confidence didn't bloom from achievements and shrewdness but ill-words and bad-manners."

"Oh, it's Seto." Ryou said casually.

"He's not very nice, is he?" Harry thought throatily. "As long as he insults Malfoy, I'm his friend."

After that, a blond, pointed face with gray eyes marched out of the shop, fuming. "I'll let my father know about this." He said then he glared at Harry when he saw him by the crowd. His eyes then stopped on Harry's company.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Harry asked savagely.

Malfoy looked a bit quizzical, eyes narrowed dangerously and left.

Kaiba followed shortly afterwards, smirking. "Another bratty kid." He said, eyes pointing at Harry. "I'm done buying. I'm leaving."

With that, Kaiba moved out almost too quickly to the Leaky Cauldron to head out from Diagon Alley until he was out of sight. Ryou managed to mutter a, "Bye," before he left.

Harry arched an eyebrow. "How is it he's your friend?"

Ryou shrugged casually. "So…this Malfoy kid…"

"Is the worst person you'd want to be with."

"He can't be that bad." Ryou said.

Harry looked skeptical.

Ryou tried to reason out but didn't say anything anymore.

-

Kaiba turned mutely to his laptop. He didn't answer nor said a word. Finally he said, "Go to sleep, Mokuba." He said, seeing his brother's reflection in the  
monitor yawned.

Too tired to say anything, Mokuba went to sleep. "_Oyasumi__, Onee-chan_."

"Good night." He said. When his brother shut the door (they were in two different VIP suits), Kaiba's eyes went back to the screen. This time it wasn't about Kaiba's Corp.'s business rate but about a website with a flashing headline with red ink and a photo clipped below.

**MISSING JAPANESE CELEBRITY – THE DUEL KING'S MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE BAFFLES THE WORLD **

Rumors continue to fly after recent events by the end of the world-broadcasted BATTLE CITY held by Seto Kaiba, president of Kaiba Corp. and participant of his own tournament. The popular duelist, Yugi Motou, only owner of the Black Magician card, has been disappearing from the public after Battle City…

The rest were cut short due to the large photo beside the vertical column where a boy with the weirdest hairstyle, purple-eyed was holding a Duel Disk by its arm. Seto Kaiba drummed his fingers on the desk. "_Only _owner, huh_?"_

Kaiba narrowed his eyes and grabbed the phone. He pushed a button for a quick-dial and said, "Hello, Ryou, it's me, Kaiba. I need to ask you a favor."


	5. Letter From The Deceased

* * *

**Chapter 5: Letter from the Deceased**

* * *

**- **

It was an ordinary sunny morning that penetrated the windows of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries—the most popular hospital in Britain—in the Magical world that is.

It was a cool atmosphere, dead quiet in the room. There were no signs of shadowy figures for only the cool morning breeze entered. However, one person opened his eyes, resisting the tranquility of the facility and sleep by the cozy bed. One bed remained alone in the enclosed ward. The sleeper was hidden behind the curtains protectively.

Malik Ishtar wasn't a morning person but he got used waking up early due to previous practices. Yawning, he stretched out a bit before shuffling to his feet and opening the curtains. He felt refreshed as if he had been in a long sleep.

In fact, he had been in a very long sleep.

"Goodness Merlin!"

Malik looked at the woman who dropped the tray of food prepared. He looked around. There was no one else the woman could be addressing to. When he had looked around, there were plates and cups in a tray that was left untouched by the desk beside the vacant bed and a bouquet of flowers.

Malik looked at the woman questioningly. She looks like some nurse and maybe Malik has been temporarily deaf because he didn't understand anything from the woman.

Before he knew it, the woman started shouting, "He's awake! He's awake!" repeatedly, shutting open the door and jumping up and down.

Malik wondered what the hell was wrong with the woman. Deciding to ignore it, he changed his pajamas (wondering why he was wearing pajamas) to his normal clothes (a bit punk in style) hanging by the curtains. He then decided to have a stroll around.

Malik pulled away the closed window curtain and looked below the glass window—about five to four floors from the ground. Wonder where he is…

He walked along the marble corridors. It was unavoidable to pass by and not hear wails of some people, mutterings and curses of those nurses. A lot of people were passing by him but not one cared. Along the walls, he found portraits of nurses with recognition below their photo. Malik laughed at one who seemed to have an overgrown nose.

"What are you laughing about boy?" The portrait shouted. "Look at you!" It shrieked. "Eyes swelling to purple and blackening of skin; Dear, this is dreadful!"

Malik accidentally slipped off a vulgar word and the portrait began ranting about ridiculous children. Malik tried poking the portrait when it suddenly bit his finger. It didn't hurt at all, but startled him. Next thing he knew, he was running away from it when it disappeared out of the portrait and returned with a very pointy axe.

Losing count how many doors and maybe some corridors he went through, he looked for a sign somewhere.

He came to an abrupt halt when by the double doors that marked 'SPELL DAMAGE', he caught sight of someone, pressing his nose against the square glasses, looking at him with blue eyes and toothy grin.

"Er." Malik arched an eyebrow.

The man came out of the door and beamed at Malik. "Here you go." He said, handling out a photo.

Malik hesitantly made a look at the picture. He was gawking at the man like he was insane. From the shiny, wide eyes, wide, beaming grin, and tone, not one was a sign of a normal person. When his eyes saw the photo, it was yet another moving picture, waving at him. The man was handsome with blond wavy hair and blue eyes—the same man talking to Malik but less handsome. At the bottom left was a signature that was written similar by a chicken.

"Loc…Lockheart?" He looked at the signature again, trying to make out the name. It wasn't Arabic but definitely not Japanese. It was easily recognizable though that it was English. "Gilderoy Lockheart?" He looked at the man with a blunt accent.

"Gilderoy, you naughty boy!"

Malik looked past Mr. Lockheart and saw a motherly woman coming. "Oh you've got a visitor!"

Malik looked blank. What the hell was this woman saying? Sure, he finally realized that he was in a place that has people speaking English but Malik only encountered this man today—in fact, just a minute ago.

Before he was about to say something, he shut his mouth again. The woman was beaming widely, taking about the permanent _spell_ afflicted on Mr. Lockheart, trying their best to cure him. She also mentioned that this _wizard_ used to be famous years ago. The only familiar, earthly (based on his everyday experience) phrase he heard was the affinity to sign photographs. Malik forced a straight face when he ridiculed a person with tri-colored hair in his mind.

Seconds later, unable to pay much attention, Malik wasn't able to hang anymore on every word the woman was uttering. It was difficult to make out because of the accent like they were gibberish but he recognized it then when he recalled Ryou speaking in English.

Malik was about to ask the nurse if this was Britain but realized it was stupid to ask.

The lady had mentioned about a closed-ward room, muttering another familiar language Malik couldn't understand that sounded close to _Aronohora_ then the door flew open.

The nurse left Malik after gesturing him to enter. She led Mr. Lockheart to the closed-ward and into his bed to sit where more photos of him hang. The nurse gave Mr. Lockheart a pinch in the cheek before leaving.

Malik gawked at the man in utter disbelief instead of the door that had mystically opened.

"I've got good pictures here and I've been practicing a lot of signing." He said, earnestly signing on his photos childishly.

Malik didn't need to learn this man IS insane…or a real bigheaded idiot. Again, he tried to make a straight face when he decided to ridicule more people in his head.

He checked out the other beds aligned and opposite of his. There were people muttering weird words that Malik is pretty sure were gibberish, a woman with a furry face who barks but most of the six beds (AN: it's likely six) were protectively covered around by the curtains. Curious, he walked along until by the far end. It was apparently an enclosed bed by the curtains for privacy as well but with a visitor. There was a nurse speaking at the visitor and left quickly, passing by Malik and was yet again, ignored.

"Thanks Mom…"

A woman with a black nightgown gave something small, unmistakably, a plastic wrapper to the round-face boy. Despite this, she seems to be unable to know the boy's existence because of her dull eyes, white face, and thin arms. Malik was sure this woman was suffering malnutrition and brain-dead.

The boy's mother went back to the bed, took out a wooden stick, and seemed to be leading a choir by gesturing time signatures of sorts. Then by the other bed beside it was a man, who probably is the boy's father but he was rolling his eyeballs while biting continuously his tongue.

"Dad, don't do that." He said. "It would bleed."

Like a child, he did stop but started grinding his teeth instead.

Malik felt a twinge in his heart—sympathy. It wasn't his type to pity such because he was a normal realist but his heart was easily penetrated. Malik seemed to feel he lost everything he loved like how the parents left their son to suffer alone while they don't recognize him or themselves. How he knew this all of a sudden was because of a poor childhood.

The boy sighed and suddenly noticed Malik's appearance.

Malik saw the boy's expression—frightened. He was wide in the eyes but quickly look away, red in the face. "What do you want?" He asked stubbornly though barely audible as if it had taken all his strength to speak.

Malik said nothing for a while. "I'm not laughing." He said. "Don't worry, I don't…" ("What's that word again?") "…think it is funny." He said, trying to recall English.

The boy arched slightly an eyebrow for his weird accent. "Yea…well…" Malik felt a bit flustered about his accent himself.

"Do you mind?" He asked, pointing at the chair beside him.

The boy didn't say anything so Malik helped himself out.

"Malik Ishtar." He said, looking at the boy.

The boy hesitated. "Neville…Longbottom."

"Meet you was nice." He replied. Neville looked at him weirdly. Malik seemed to have got the message, muttered, "_matsu_", and began pondering. "Erm…Nice meeting you."

Neville didn't say anything. "What do you want?" He asked again.

"Is it wrong talking to people?" Malik asked and he amused mentally he used to believe that when other people talk _to him._

"No…"

Obviously, Neville wasn't in a very good mood to chat with strangers so Malik decided to talk something with this boy's problem. He picked his words correctly. "It's better they're like this—"

But it seemed that he picked it incorrectly.

Neville had attacked him immediately, tackled him, threatening him shakily but Malik was able to push him away. He had pointed a stick at him and Malik was skeptical, eyes looking at Neville like he was a 3 year old. "You're not poking me to death, will you?"

Neville was as nervous as dead.

"I meant to say they were better being like this than what I was." Malik said in a low whisper, sitting down again.

Neville hesitantly lowered his wand and sat down back at the chair, only to fall off. He blushed, sitting again. Malik pretended he didn't see that.

Malik was now thinking of his past—in fact, talking about it in a 'normal' way. He's not the type to talk about himself or his past but seeing this side of story made Malik open.

"I had a split personality." He said. "When I killed my dad." He said bitterly. "Abusive you know but he's still my dad. When I growed—grew up, my hate grew and I took it on the good people. Almost killed too until I couldn't control myself." He laughed mirthlessly. "They saved me."

Neville was listening intently on his story but he seemed rather crestfallen. "At least you're alive…talking right."

"But I did something sinful I couldn't forgive." He said bleakly. "It's not easy getting your soul killed and formed again." He added sagely. "I would rather die."

"Don't say that!" Neville said shakily. "You shouldn't…" He said, looking at his parents.

"Do you prefer if they're like this then…than…whatever…dead?"

Neville said nothing. "M-Maybe…" He said shakily. "Like you…save them…I don't want to give up." He added, wanting to sound strong but dramatically failing. "They're heroes you know…s-saved a—many people…so they deserve a chance—Ma—Malik!"

Malik suddenly fainted.

-

There were stairs everywhere. Doors everywhere…wherever you turn—some at the sky, below your feet but where is below and the sky? All was dark and stone stairs and doors mock. Relativity and laws of physics was lost. He tried to find his way out but no avail. All was dark…then suddenly, crimson liquid oozed down the stairs. Blood had marked the doors and a cold laughter had spread followed by echoes of hisses.

"AH!"

All eyes turned to the occupant of the bed.

Malik Ishtar woke up, panting. He could remember the dream vividly—stairs and doors in a maze…he was sure he _heard_ that definition somewhere. But the hisses…

"He's already turning like Harry!"

Malik saw the familiar red-hair…Fred, or was that George?

For some reason, Fred…or George, began chanting some sort of incantation to heal the "HP virus" with symptoms like waking up, screaming and sweating after fainting all of a sudden, causing heart attack from other people with people like Mrs. Weasley vulnerable to the side effect.

"GEORGE—FRED—STOP THAT THIS INSTANT!"

Malik chuckled a little but he wished he didn't.

They turned at him again—all the Weasleys with red hair. It was quite a sore in the eye after seeing red. Malik felt tired all of a sudden when he felt refreshed just before. Talking about that, Malik seemed to be remembering something…

"The memory potion's wearing off—"

The motherly woman but dangerously strict at times, Mrs. Weasley shot a lethal look at the nurse who just came in.

Then Malik remember…

"ISIS!" He shouted, standing up but the nurse and Mrs. Weasley pushed him back. He hastily asked—translating quickly to English, "How long was I sleeping?"

Fred shrugged. "Four weeks."

"WHAT?"

Mrs. Weasley shot Fred a threatening look while the boy Malik recalled with freckles, Ron and the only girl in the family, Ginny chuckled.

George waved Fred off. "Nah, t'was just two."

"Two and a half."

"No, more like three."

"Told you it was four."

"FRED—GEORGE—OUT!"

The twins obeyed after waving their sticks with sparkles coming out at Malik, startling him slightly. Mrs. Weasley chided them and shooed Ron and Ginny as well.

Right after they left however, someone…a group of people came in.

Five to six people entered the room. The first one to enter was a scarred-face man with an eye that keeps on rolling around uncontrollably—seemingly, when it looked at Malik all of a sudden. The next person was a rugged man who has old robes and a tired face. The following people were a man with greasy hair and hooked nose, analyzing Malik in one stare like the scarred man, a woman with a brilliant pink hair and a man from a storybook—white—silver bear belted around his waist, sparkling stars from his auburn robe and moon spectacles looking knowingly.

Malik wasn't very surprised now compared to what he had seen. Instead he asked in a cold manner, "What happened?"

The people took seats beside the bed, magically making it appear. Malik didn't wonder anymore.

"What happened?" He asked again.

Obviously, the onyx-eyed man that matches Kaiba's wanted to speak but it seemed as if they were waiting for someone to do so instead.

"Lemon drop?"

Malik stared at the silver-haired, old man.

"Ain't gonna drink 'nything from strangers, Albus." Said the scarred man with voice so deep and breath heavy.

Mrs. Weasley wanted to scold the man for disrespect but refused so. The man Albus instead laughed friendlily. "Of course." He said. "I am Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please do call me anyway you'd like. I'd appreciate if you wouldn't call me by my complete name."

It took ten seconds for Malik to let the words digest—to know if those were names or words or simply gibberish like everything around Britain. He stared at him. "I guess you know me." He said suspiciously.

"Indeed." He said. "Malik Ishtar, correct?" –Malik nodded— "Excellent, now that that's done, lemon drop?" He offered again.

Malik cautiously shook his head politely.

"They're sweet."

Malik stared at the man weirdly.

Dumbledore simply smiled. "Very well, it seemed you'd like to go directly to business. Before, let me introduce to you the Order of the Phoenix. Here are some members of the Order and your sister was one of it."

Dumbledore waited for Malik to react but it seemed he had taken care much of his temper better, waiting patiently for Dumbledore to finish.

"The Order of the Phoenix is an organization set up against a great dark Wizard named Tom Riddle or what people know him as, _Lord Voldemort_." –Malik noticed flinching and the pink-haired practically falling— "He is a man who dedicated his life in the dark arts—dark magic…" –Malik straightened up— "…that is forbidden to perform that could kill anyone."

He had stopped there and Malik spoke, "So, this is…a magic war?"

"I knew you would get the general idea." Dumbledore said. "As a Wizard yourself."

Malik didn't speak.

"Perhaps the use of the…ah…term, Wizards against your type are incorrect but still the same." He continued. "As an Order's member, your sister of course told us." He paused. "Most, but not all."

"So…" Malik started. "…you know…" He scanned them. "But what don't you know?" He asked. "Would you force it out of me?"

"We will not force it out of you." Dumbledore said calmly, smiling at Malik's fast catch-up with their discussion. "It is your decision to help us."

"Why would I help you?" He asked, his voice starting to sound cold.

"The answer is not within me." He said. "It is after all your choice."

Malik knew where this was getting… "The one who killed my sister was holding…that stick…wands in storybooks."

"Yes, wands." Dumbledore confirmed.

"Then it was your fault my sister was killed." He said, voice starting to rise.

Dumbledore didn't say anything for a while but the accusation seemed to have alerted the members. "Whose fault would it be if I were to die because you refuse to help?"

"Are you telling me it will be _my _fault?" He laughed mirthlessly.

"Agreed." He said calmly. "Is it my fault Ms. Ishtar was killed when she accepted the offer to help?"

Malik realized immediately that his temper and emotion got the best of his brains despite the fact he didn't understand the man's English very thoroughly.

He narrowed his eyes at the man.

"However," He continued. "I am not pleased with the attack Voldemort's" –twitches and shivers there—"men, the Death Eaters have done including her death." He said solemnly. "On the contrary, her courage to save you was admirable." He smiled. "I had to blow my nose for that."

"Save me?" He whispered unconsciously. Then he remembered… "The letter!"

Dumbledore gestured to the envelope by the desk. "It is for you to decide to open it or not."

"Of course I'll open it." Malik said. "Why didn't you?"

"It seemed rude to open a letter in any means, is it not?"

Malik was halfway to open the seal when he examined the envelope. Malik looked up to Dumbledore. "You know what it contains…"

"Perhaps." Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling. "I have ideas but not confirmed."

"Are you going to confirm it now?"

"Perhaps." He said again, smiling. "Like I said, it is your decision."

Malik would decide on that later and he began opening it—but stopped again. "You can do magic." He said, recalling his rod. "How would I know if you're not bewitching me—or this letter—or reading my mind?"

"So precise for a magic-user not in the Wizarding community, Mr. Ishtar." Dumbledore replied. "You are correct but I'm not to be surprised of your question when you refused a helpless old man's offer of Lemon Drop."

Malik wanted to use his brains before reading the letter but he has a suspecting instinct the man is not lying.

Finally, he opened the bloodstained envelope, unfolded the letter, and read:

_Dear Malik,_

_By the time you would be able to read this, Rishid and I would be dead by now. I did not wish for Rishid to suffer the same fate but he had refused. There was no turning back from fate._

_First of all, I would like to confess about my involvement with a magical community where wizards and witches exist, using magic hidden among normal humans. I'm afraid I cannot elaborate further, forgive me._

_During your stay in Japan, I had one last vision despite the absence on my Sennen necklace. It seems as if this vision had came from my ancestral reincarnate who used to wear the Sennen necklace. The vision was in fact a prophecy._

_The power of the Gods was granted upon the Most Powerful in the Ancient Days. This power was the shiniest light yet dimmest shadow—the power of life and death, each of this balanced each other. One can't be destroyed or created but together when most powerful, only one weapon can destroy this power. But it chooses not the purest or the dimmest, the bravest or the cunning, the smartest or the hard working, but the weakest of the strongest._

_There were three lights I've seen: red, blue, and green in order. Red has shone brightest, turning blue into purple and green overshadowed. Red was man's mistake, blue was the sky, symbol of faith, was polluted, and purple was the toxic that killed the green nature—life. But if blue over-shone, green would be stable and red would disappear._

_My only word of advice is to clear the eyes of the shadows. There are many shadows that are kin yet killed and shadows trusted yet traitorous._

_I'm sorry I cannot provide much information. Please never use the rod again._

_I love you, Malik. Take care  
Isis_

Malik was starring at the letter, written in Arabic. The one that confused him most was his last note to never use the rod again. It seemed she rushed already but it still has a lot of holes in it.

He tried to avoid Dumbledore's eyes as he stare at his hands. He was trying to think hard to crack some code in the prophecy but he can't help get a bit emotional. He had to get some help and mourning isn't going to help…he looked up to the man who smiled.

Malik gave the letter to Dumbledore (he almost threw it at him). "Help yourself out." He said. "It's Arabic."

Dumbledore beamed. "Excellent! I love Muggle languages." He said, adjusting his spectacles and reading the letter as if he was a native of it, impressing Malik.

Seconds later, Dumbledore pulled down the letter. Malik looked at him questioningly. "My guesses were confirmed." He said but there was no expression or any emotion in his face to prove it..

Malik looked at him silently, clinging hardly on his every word but Dumbledore didn't say much anymore. He seems to be thinking and had talked to himself. Malik has a feeling he wasn't going to share any of his thoughts.

As if Dumbledore had read his mind, he looked up. "It makes sense with her other prophecy." He said. "In fact, _their_ prophecy."

"What do you mean?" Malik asked hastily.

Dumbledore looked at him with respectful, blue eyes. "Perhaps another time." He said. "I am still speculating after all." Malik looked quite defiant (he wanted to know everything already so that he could act upon it fast) but decided to quit about it. "However, there was a single bit that I already know." He said, eyes twinkling. "Ms. Ishtar has the most magnificent magic."

"Her prophecies are quite precise…"

Dumbledore smiled widely to Malik. "She knows love." _  
_


	6. The Problem In The Other Side

* * *

**author's note: **there's a two year gap between this update and the last one. Also, I've used Joey Wheeler in the previous chapters. It should be the Japanese, Jounochi Katsuya (surname first before name). The name is quite important, apparently. Also, four more chapters until the next arc, which would be the arc in Hogwarts.

**/ chapter 6 \\**

It's been three months since Battle City.

The first round of the finals of Battle City was already interesting. This was a match between two spirits of the Sennen Items, the 'Yami' or 'Dark' personality of two Sennen Item Holders. Ryou Bakura was one of them, although he was more unwilling to do anything of the matter.

Yami Bakura is the spirit residing inside the Sennen Ring, the item his other half (or host, which he considers more to be) has. Since the beginning, Yami Bakura knew everything, plotted everything, and now his plan kept on unfolding with a few minor adjustments against the game of fate. In the eyes of many, Yami Bakura was a blurry figure. His objectives were unknown—at least, his real objective was. He was always playing the role of a psychopath, but under his own shadow he would secretly slid and take whatever he wants.

His appearances were unpredictable, but he seemed to play a very big role with everyone's back turned on him. In between his appearances though, Yami Bakura had a couple of interesting stories, most especially after Battle City, he never looked at his 'Hikari' the normal way.

* * *

**The Problem In The Other Side**

* * *

The turbulence has been quelled. The blimp continued to travel without noise through the sky, while in a room was a sleeping teenager. Under his closed eyes, visible dark bags can be seen but his expression was changing to something painful and hurt as if he was preventing something to come out of him. His hands flew to his chest, though to suppress the baleful spirit inside of him.

It was a dark place, a place he has never been in. He weakly walked through the narrow hallway and there he saw two doors on both sides. One door felt oddly wistful. The four-pointed room was painted with a gentle evening sky with undetermined shapes of stars across it. There were books neatly placed on the bookshelves and board games and blocks fixed on a certain corner. There was a deck of cards on the desk and on the middle was a bed, tightly fixed. There was something on the bed though, a photograph and a letter lying still.

Lost in the place and overwhelmed by unexplained exhaustion, he failed to register what it really was. His feeling only felt heavier and the burden had cost him to fall on his knees, looking in front of the opened room. Keeping his tired eyes open, he saw on the other corner of the room opened board games but there was something different with in. Strange marks and insignias fluttered across the strange decorated game, accompanied by items with strange writings.

He felt withdrawn inside. He stepped in and looked around.

"Interesting, isn't?"

He froze on his place and looked around. There he saw someone like him, yet carried a very different atmosphere. His hair looked rougher and spikier, his eyes lacked innocence and his face was grim while his was timid.

"Ya-yami..." he stuttered. It was the first time they have literally, and actually faced each other face to face. He was lost what to say, what to do, and what to feel.

"My landlord," he said without any specific tone in his voice. "What might you be doing here, and opening your soul room..."

"Soul room..." He looked in the room and realized finally where he was. "What are you...no, what's...wrong with it..."

His eyes were downcast. The spirit said nothing for a while. "This is the first time you opened your soul room. It's not like I'm interested in it, and I never bothered with it, but you willingly opened it. Have you been lowering your guard?"

He couldn't answer properly, hesitating to look at his eyes. "No..."

The spirit looked at the items in the soul room. "...why the hell are you like this? Who the fuck are you?"

"What?" He said with fear suddenly, shooting his head up

The spirit didn't look as malevolent and he didn't look anything that would go ballistic. "The soul room is the reflection of the deep consciousness of a person. The room here...isn't anything I thought my landlord would be." He looked at his landlord directly. "To be honest, I'm surprised and now, landlord, I want answers."

"I...want answers too."

"What?" His voice was stinging with poison and his eyes flashed dangerously.

The landlord didn't falter, trying to get stronger and firm in his voice. "Why...at that time, you could have won! Why did you..."

The spirit only smirked.

At the other end of destiny, only death awaits.

The apartment was rarely visited. The foyer was almost always empty, save for a pair of shoes. The wooden floors were glossy and cleaned that it appeared to be shining when morning light passed through the white decorative curtains. There was a four-pointed, small table with four chairs on each side. One chair has been pulled out and on this side of the chair was a letter. A pen was not too far from the letter. The letter was written with an English, cursive handwriting. Whoever was living inside the Japanese apartment of Domino City must be a foreigner.

The letter was written in a letter format, but with no date, address or whatsoever. It was an informal letter and the top left of the letter read, "Dear Ayame,".

Near the living room was another display of cleanliness. The kitchen looked brand new and the pans looked like as if they were never used. In the empty apartment came soon the clicking sound from the door. The door was unlocked and it swung gently open. Someone came in, closing the door before him quietly. He let out an audible, questioning sound when the phone rang. He slid off his shoes instantly, walking briskly to the wall phone. He brought down a large black, shoulder bag that contained his laptop and answered the phone.

"Good morning, this is Bakura...ah, Yugi-kun!" A smile came up on his face. "Ah...no, I'm fine now. It's been half a week...a, it was a week? Haha...no, no, I'm really fine. Just a memory lapse...no! No, Yugi-kun, it's not about the Sennen Ring. I've been busy."

Slowly, a hand touched the gold pendent ring, bearing a triangle symbol by the center. Five points dangled from the ring, creating chiming noises.

"...I'm sorry I couldn't come, Yugi-kun...Mm, he's improving though so if we finish fast, I'll ask if he wants to go." The boy laughed. "It's not like he could stop him."

With a word of goodbye, he hung the phone down. Ryou Bakura checked his wristwatch. He then went over to the table, sitting down on the chair and taking the pen to his hand. He happily wrote on the letter again and shortly after seven minutes, he stopped and ended too the letter with a goodbye. He folded it and sealed it in an envelope. He looked at the envelope before deciding to place it in the bag. He took off with the bag, heavy because of the laptop and exited the apartment, closing the door.

Ryou walked downstairs and left. He simply walked through the streets, cabs and taxis passing by him as if asking him to stop and ride. Willing passengers to pay were appreciated. Ryou preferred walking though. Not only does he have to conserve money, but he was unease being with strangers no matter how naive or pathetic that sounds. Even if he wasn't technically alone, that itself made him worry. Besides, walking made his thoughts clearer and he can smell the wonderful air of Domino City. It was the place where he had stayed the longest, having moved from school to school too many times in the past.

Ryou's destination was quite far, and would take him an hour or so to get there by walking. It might take longer though because half an hour later, he met up with someone.

"Ah, Bakura!"

The white-haired teenager turned to look across the street and saw a blond teenager of his age. "Jounochi-kun," he said, greeting him. He was with someone else, and it wasn't Yugi. She was younger. She was a pretty girl with long brown hair and blue eyes. Even though Jounochi was rather rough and always tries to look tough, the two shared a warm look in their eyes and smiles. Ryou was also familiar of the face, though it could be fact she was Jounochi's sister.

The two of them crossed the street. Jounochi was holding his sister's hand closely, and they didn't appear as lovers at all. They went over to Ryou who stopped politely, waiting for them.

"Good morning, Jounochi-kun," Ryou greeted with a slight bow. Only his sister returned the gesture.

"Ya, Bakura, this is my sister, Shizuka."

The two, for the first time looked at each other's eyes. His fourteen-year-old sister evidently blushed faintly before the two greeted each other with a bow.

"Shizuka, this is Bakura. 'nyway, we should get together over Yugi's house."

Ryou smiled faintly with an apologetic look. "Ah, sorry Jounochi-kun, I won't be able to come."

"Eh? Why not?" The teenager asked, looking much more surprised than necessary.

"Oh, Katsuya-niichan, he must be busy. We shouldn't bother him," Shizuka said to her brother.

Ryou nodded, bowing slightly to Jounochi. "I'm really sorry, Jounochi-kun. I've already told Yugi-kun though, but if I finish early, we could go over if Mokuba wants."

Jounochi blinked. "Mokuba? What about the kid?"

"Oh, I haven't told you, but I thought Yugi would have told you. I'm Mokuba's English mentor."

Just like how Ryou imagined, Jounochi reacted badly. "WHAT? You're tutoring Mokuba?"

"What's wrong, niichan? Is he bad?"

Jounochi shook his head. "Nah, Mokuba's a good kid, but his bro ain't." Jounochi looked at Bakura. "How did you get to be his teacher? I mean, no offense, but if it was Kaiba, he'd get someone professional or something, some high-class teacher and not someone...you know, related to Yugi and all that."

Ryou just smiled. He did not take in offence of anything, but in fact was amused. "When I was hospitalized, I saw Mokuba visiting someone. Whoever his friend is, he was an English speaker so he asked me to be the translator. He said his friend didn't want any visitors but him so we had to use our cellphone to translate what he wants to say."

"Was it a girl?" Jounochi asked with a grin.

"No, I believe he was a he," Ryou answered.

"Heh, wanted to see how Kaiba would react when his little brother gets a girl friend. C'mon Shizuka, better get going. See you and Mokuba later," Jounochi said, walking past Ryou and patting him on the back.

Ryou waved at the two. Shizuka smiled at Ryou, waving shyly. Ryou then went on to his direction, crossing through the street. It was only in an hour later (dropping by a fast food restaurant to buy some drinks) that he reached his destination.

The mansion was by the very outskirt of Domino City. It was enclosed with a white, giant wall. He stood at the gates for a brief moment before the guards instantly let him in. He was expected after all. Without any word shared to them, he went straight inside the mansion where the maids greeted him with a bow. At the first time, Ryou was extremely nervous but he was able to deal with his lack of confidence because of his student.

"Ryou-kun! Good morning!" The boy greeted excitedly. He has black, raven hair and deep, blue eyes. His hair was long—even longer the Ryou's hair. It was messy and looked too heavy for the boy. If not for his young smile, he would have looked like an old hag.

"Good morning, Mokuba-kun," Ryou greeted back.

"Oniichan's having his breakfast. Do you want to join?" Mokuba asked brightly, pulling his mentor.

Ryou chuckled weakly. "No, let's not bother him...come on, let's start our lessons."

Mokuba pouted. "Lessons? It's so early!"

Ryou just smiled. "If we finish early, we could go over to Yugi."

"Cool," he said. "Then let's start!"

The mentor and the student settled in the usual room where the two discussed privately. Mokuba chose the room specifically since it was never used (and other rooms in the Kaiba mansion) and it was near the gaming center on the upper floor. Whenever the two were done, or if Mokuba forcibly ended the session, they would spend the time in the gaming center. Mokuba enjoyed spending time playing with his brother, but his brother was always busy he would feel guilty holding him back and he knew his big brother was better than him that he would feel deep shame by simply losing or if his brother let him win.

"It's not like I'm a sore loser," Mokuba said at one time when they were playing. "But I think I should at least make him proud by defeating him or at least be somewhere in Yugi's level. "

Ryou was good even if it wasn't board games. Mokuba kept insisting to play Duel Monsters but Ryou kept on saying no for the uneasy feeling of playing the card game that started to shadow him. Mokuba might have realized this or just given out eventually. Even if it wasn't card games, he was still quite a player but Mokuba could sometimes beat him. There were times when he would let him win but Ryou decided to not go easy anymore out of a mentor's love. Mokuba could do it, and Ryou wasn't going to let him win easily if he was determined and as skilled. He would only hinder Mokuba then.

There were few times when Mokuba's big brother would come home early and come in the game center. The maids and butlers of the household were aware of where the two were, pointing it to their landlord. It can be awkward whenever the CEO would come in. Ryou would fall quiet as Mokuba happily greet his big brother but there was one time when both of them didn't even notice the older Kaiba's presence, so concentrated in a Dungeon Dice Monster game. Ryou noticed him eventually but didn't say anything. The older Kaiba looked at his brother's side for a moment before leaving without a word. Ryou was sure it elicited a rare smile from the CEO.

The two of them were in an air-conditioned room. The curtains were opened, providing natural light to the dark room. It was filled with cushions and sofas. There was a wide, flat screen television on one end and a refrigerator on a far corner. There was a table near it but it wasn't where they discussed. They do it near the window by the bed of cushions and a short, but wide table. There was a desk not too far from it with English books neatly placed. There was a stack of papers with scribbles that were not kanji, and a white clear folder.

"So is he feeling fine now?" Ryou asked his student who was answering some questions he gave him about sentence structure.

"He's still in Japan," Mokuba said. "With his mother. His mother was very beautiful but she looked really sad. He didn't want to talk about her though, but he rarely talked about anything. His mother wasn't really happy to meet me either," he answered, scribbling his answers while leaned on a pillow and sitting on the carpet.

"Does he have a cellphone?"

Mokuba laughed all of a sudden. "No! He doesn't know how to use one, and he's not much of a technology person. I invited him once here and got pretty scared! I didn't think England was so far behind technology!"

"England?" Ryou repeated. "So he lives there?"

"Yea, in Britain to be exact."

"Why is he in Japan?"

"He told me once it was none of my business," Mokuba answered. "But when I asked him again, he said it was family-related…and none of my business. I'm done!"

Mokuba handed the paper to his mentor. The white-haired teenager scanned through it, holding a pencil in his hand and began marking it.

"How is it?" Mokuba asked.

"It's very good, Mokuba," Ryou said, underlining some mistakes. "Being around your brother and foreign businessmen, I'm sure you picked English really well."

"Nah," the boy replied. "You're just a really good teacher."

Ryou blushed at the compliment, smiling awkwardly. He didn't know how to respond, but he felt like he should say something as if Mokuba was pressing him. "No…" was all he said however. He wrote the score and handed it to Mokuba. "It's not me," he continued lamely, fidgeting.

Mokuba shook his head after looking through his paper. "I really learned a lot from you, and this would help me in the future. Maybe I can become a teacher too someday."

"A teacher?" Ryou asked curiously.

"I always watch how big brother works and then I get to watch you too. I do my best to remember what I have to remember. My memory isn't that bad."

Ryou nodded. "It's very good."

Mokuba continued with a modest blushing smile, "So sometimes I want to tell it to others what I learned from the two of you. I don't have a younger sibling, but I wished I have one. I don't go to school either. Onii-chan went to the public school here for a while since it's a requirement but I think he managed to get himself to be a legal worker and out of school already. Onii-chan doesn't want me to go to any schools after experiencing the standard they have."

"School is really nice," Ryou commented. "Of course, it's not perfect but if you have friends, it feels bearable with teachers and school work."

Mokuba sighed, sinking in the cushions. "I wished I have friends like you, Ryou-kun. I know some people of my age but none of them are really my friends. And since I have a brother like Seto.."

"Well, he's your friend, right?"

"He? Oh, him, yea, I guess so…but we don't really know each other. I guess the only reason we became friends is because he doesn't know _Seto__ Kaiba_. Besides, he's four years older than me. I don't have friends around my age."

"Four years is a big gap…" Ryou said thoughtfully. "And he's a foreigner too." By saying this, Ryou realized that the young Kaiba would lose not too soon the person he actually considered a friend. Not exactly the optimistic type of a person, Ryou was lost what to say. What kind of mentor was he? "Well…" Ryou thought of what to say. "You shouldn't look for friends and ask for one," he said slowly. "They just find you and maybe, you already have friends you just never knew."

"Are you speaking from experience?"

Ryou shyly blushed. "Not really…but maybe. I can't really say."

Mokuba smiled. "Thanks, Ryou. But I guess I am lucky. I have Onii-chan, you, Yugi...I have people who are willing to help me when I'm in need. And I'm only eleven. Maybe I'll find true friends at your age."

"I'm already seventeen next month," Ryou said defensively, shaking his head. "Just have faith. A person like you will have friends for sure."

Mokuba nodded firmly. "Mm!"

Ryou smiled, pulling his laptop from the black laptop bag. "Let's get back to our lessons then, though I don't think there's anything else you should learn. You can speak English, and you're better at it than me. I'm just teaching you what you don't know and you get better at it."

Mokuba snickered, rubbing his nose with a finger.

He set opened the laptop and there a clean, bluish sky of wallpaper appeared. Mokuba peered from his place but saw a white envelope on the floor. "Is that yours?" He asked, pointing to the envelope.

Ryou looked away from the screen. "Oh, yes, thank you," he said, picking it up.

"Have you read it?" Mokuba asked. "What was it about?"

He stowed the envelope uneasily. Ryou wondered how to answer. "No, not yet."

"Who was it from?" Mokuba asked for the sake of the conversation.

"From someone important."

"Your dad?" Mokuba asked. He didn't wait for Ryou to answer fortunately, pulling his arms behind his head and leaning back. "Our real father died in a car accident and mom died giving birth to me. Our relatives stole our inheritance and just dropped us in an orphanage." Mokuba sighed. "Well, sucks for them for just leaving me and my brother like that! Now they're the one who would need us, but they made us who they are. That's one contribution, I guess."

Mokuba didn't sound completely pained at all from the story. Since he wasn't alive at that time, he couldn't really feel the anger his big brother had felt, being eight at that time. Even now as he recalled, he sounded casual. "I wonder how our parents look like though," he said thoughtfully. "Onii-chan was only five when I was born. He said I looked a lot like mother but he couldn't describe them really well. We didn't have pictures of them either. We really just had each other."

Mokuba sat up and placed his elbow on his lap and his chin on his hand. He stared at the ceiling. "I wonder how much inheritance our relatives actually stole. Maybe we were rich."

Ryou was typing something on his laptop. "Have you and your brother thought of approaching any of your relatives?"

"Hell no," he said curtly. "Besides, we don't know them at all."

"You could try to get to know them. Not all of them could have stolen from you. They probably had their reasons, and you have cousins then."

"Well, cousins might be nice," he said thoughtfully for a moment. "But we haven't kept in touch AT ALL. Maybe I can meet them secretly...then if they're cool, I can introduce them to big brother."

Ryou smiled a bit. "Is that really a good idea?"

"Heh, better start researching then."

"After our session," Ryou said, putting a finger up.

"You said I'm already better than you!" Mokuba whined.

"True, but your brother is still paying me even though I refused and I don't like earning money without working for it."

The two of them laughed together. It sounded as if it would last for long but it ended briefly and the image dimmed darkly. When light entered, all Ryou saw next was the ceiling.

It was different from the apartment. It was a house this time, a room of a house. It was rather big too. He stepped out of the bed, tidying the bed sheets. Ryou was quite the morning person, but he was a bit exhausted today. He did not feel like putting a smile with the sun. After washing his face, brushing his teeth, changing his clothes and combing his hair, he went past the living room and to the kitchen. He picked a wand from his pocket and waved it, causing knives, spoon, forks and pans to move. The refrigerator swung opened, eggs, ham and bacon flying out.

Ryou sat on the chair, alone in the dining room. Something jingled from within his shirt. It glowed momentarily and a transparent figure appeared behind him. "Morning," Ryou muttered without turning. When the spirit didn't reply, he turned to look. The spirit wasn't very sociable to Ryou, at least in a nice way, but he can tell there was a reason for the lack of response.

"Yadonoushi...Ryou," he said. Ryou blinked at his yami. "...I feel something...someone using the power of the shadows."

"A Shadow Game?"

"Perhaps," he said. The spirit closed his eyes. He looked exhausted. "I think you should contact rich boy." With that, the spirit disappeared.

Ryou didn't like it when his other half acted like this. To be grave and vague, something was troubling him. He understood why the spirit was tired though. Ryou was tired himself, but not as tired as he is. As suggested though, he would contact Seto, the rich boy he was referring to.

"Accio laptop."

Something sped from his bedroom. He caught it with his hands and placed it on the table. He pulled up the monitor and waited for the laptop to open. Once he connected to the Internet, he pulled out a small device with a familiar KC logo in it. It was a flat, round disk where Ryou inserted a wire in one of the plugs. The wire was from a microphone he held near his mouth. He selected a program on the desktop and when it loaded, the KC item worked to life. The light on the center flashed in neon blue and white lights. This was just an example of Kaiba Corp's technology.

The program he opened revealed to be a video. It was no recorded video, but a live video of what was going on on the opposite end. He waited until someone familiar clicked up. It didn't take long though. Seto was already on the other end.

"Good morning, Seto," Ryou said.

"Whatever," he muttered idyllically. "So what do you think?"

"Me?" He blinked. "You mean Bakura?"

"Either of you, whoever you think you are."

Ryou smiled. "He hasn't told me a lot yet, but he's exhausted. He said someone is using the power of the Shadows."

Seto didn't reply. It was a direct magic-related answer. "Do you think it's Yugi?"

"Why would it be Yugi-kun?" he asked, looking quite bemused.

Seto looked at the screen. He has been typing something, multi-tasking as usual. "Yesterday, Yugi vanished."

Ryou gasped with his eyes widening slowly. "Yugi-kun...!"

"He and his imaginary friend," he repeated, typing something again. "Physically. It was a few days ago but news recently come out. I don't know who but I doubt anyone from the media has been stalking him because they've got some eye to notice him to disappear. He doesn't show up in tournaments frequently so news about him isn't very popular."

Seto was right. While Yugi is the famed King of Games, he only participated in two grand events. While he may have won and people still talked about him, the media isn't really keen on keeping him in the news forever.

"On the good news," Seto said with a slight smirk. "The mutt disappeared too."

Ryou's eyes only grew bigger than it is. "Jounochi-kun too?"

"Along with a female Duelist named Mai Kujaku. Do you know her? I've looked in her background. She entered the Duelist Kingdom and made it to the finals."

Ryou nodded. "She was...sort of with us. I don't really know her though. But she was in the Battle City tournament, you know, and made it to the finals." Ryou frowned a bit. "At least that's what I know from what they've told me."

"Oh yea," he said stoically. "Someone who lost against the mutt. It's not really a name worth remembering."

The teenager leaned back on the chair. He could smell his breakfast getting cooked. "Are you feeling all right?"

"What kind of question is that?" He asked back, snapping slightly.

Ryou didn't reply. His attitude spoke for itself. Ever since the Doma Organization made its presence in Japan high, it's been attacking Kaiba Corp's market. Seto was having quite a battle against the organization's company along with the involvement with magic. When Ryou asked him directly why he is doing this, Seto only answered because he owes the King of Games something.

"Why did you accept it though, Seto?" Ryou asked. "The letter to Hogwarts."

Ryou twitched slightly at the mention of the name, but the CEO twitched evidently and his swift, typing fingers all together stopped for a second. "That's a very blunt question to make, Ryou."

"Sorry," he said apologetically. It was blunt.

"But since you asked." Seto sighed a bit. Seto was a stoical, hard young man but there was a sign of weariness in his cold eyes. He let Ryou see this, but not everything. "Remember the sword with hieroglyphics?"

At this thought, the Wizard seemed to have understood. "The one from your parents' lot in Britain..."

Seto nodded. "I've completely deciphered the hieroglyphics. As we guessed, the meaning of the hieroglyphics is useless and there's no secret behind it, but the picture and symbols used leads to the real message. It was in hieroglyphics again but it was easier to translate."

Ryou received a couple of files from Seto. It must be what he was typing about. Ryou accepted the file, looking through the pictures and details.

"Griffyndor's Curse..." Ryou read.

"That's the complete translation," Seto answered.

"Seto, I've never heard of this..." Ryou said, looking alarmed. He already knew why Seto accepted the offer to Hogwarts.

"I'm completely clueless about it," he said, sounding slightly annoyed at the fact. "I'm going to learn the truth though. I don't really care about this curse. I don't believe it, but if it's anything that involves the truth of our family, then I WILL find out."

Ryou looked through the pictures. Seto didn't really care about the truth of his family. He was a person who never looks in the past. The future was the only step onward. Seto couldn't care less about his family, the one who are dead and he believed to be dead forever. Ryou barely heard the clatter of plates on the table, thinking of a young, black-haired boy who was actually interested and willing to learn more of their family. Ryou knew that his friend was doing this for his brother.

"I'm not going to get him involved," Seto said. He wasn't aware he was speaking out loud anymore. "I will find the truth for him if it's what he wants and if it's what he needs."

"_The truth of my family..._"

_Dear Ayame,_

_ Ayame, things aren't going very normal. I feel like the two worlds I live are starting to merge together and I feel responsible for some reasons. A couple of my friends are missing and I believe there are many lives endangered. I am also making dangerous connections back to the Wizarding world. I feel like there's an oxymoron behind all this. For the whole day, I thought of what to do about it. I just can't be idle all about that's going on. I had to decide, right? You would probably disagree—mother would strongly disagree but just like Seto, I want to know the truth. Even if it's for my safety, I don't like to be in the shadows. There has to be a truth as to why the You-Know-You himself killed you and mother but the Ministry of Magic lied about it. I don't remember much of my life as Gabriel Wind but I remember those red eyes looking at me—through my soul, yet I was spared._

_The pursuit of truth...I don't want anyone to be hurt either. Seto is entrusting Mokuba and his company to me after all. I'm torn of what to do. _

He stopped when there was a chiming ring from his laptop. He returned to his laptop and realized he has a new mail. "Mokuba-kun?"

Ryou checked on the mail, reading through the message the younger Kaiba gave him. When he did, Ryou lost his breath. "No, Mokuba..."


	7. The Order Of The Phoenix

**Author's Note:**  
Sorry for the late update. This was a LONG chapter 11, 00 words. I'm wondering whether I should try making it descriptive because I feel like I'm rushing it. I would accept constructive criticism and appreciate it much especially if it's about my writing, anything to make you feel more the story because I tried rereading this and I feel like I should...put more effort in the feelings of the characters. Someone criticize me! Nicely!

GAD. Proofreading is so boring and hard. I should get a beta

* * *

**The Order Of The Phoenix**

* * *

It was a dark room.

He felt something underneath his feet. It was red, cold, and dense. He felt dirty even upon seeing it. He looked up and saw staircases. Tentatively, he walked through the sandpaper-color bricks. There were many staircases defying gravity, many doors leading to rooms that he had never seen. He didn't know where the right room was but he knew where he was going.

After walking countless of stairs without feeling exhausted, he came face to face to a door. There was a strange familiar eye embedded on the door. He opened the door and saw a large, empty, dark room. The walls and floors were the same but an empty throne sat in the center. He touched it. It was cold, made out of gold. Like the door, it had an eye symbol embedded on it. He then looked at the door and instantly knew he was at the right place. He stepped closer to the door, reaching out to open it...

"_HARRY!_"

He yelled loudly, swearing after falling off the sofa. When he got up, Harry's hand flied to his wand.

"Harry, wait, it's me, Remus Lupin!"

Having only woken up, Harry did not lower his wand instantly. It was dark but he could hear movements about the room.

"The boy isn't going to lower his wand, Remus—"

There was a crashing of a plate and some glasses. Harry raised his wand instantly. "What was that?"

"I knew we shouldn't have brought that clumsy witch..."

Recognizing the voice for hearing it the second time around, Harry finally lowered his wand. "...professor?" he called tentatively.

"Just Moody, Potter."

Finally, someone had the sense to lit up light with _Lumos_. Harry saw a tall black wizard starring at him. "Should have turned on the lights in the first place."

The others followed his suit and Harry did so too. With four wands lightened up, Harry could see Lupin Lupin, a wizard he has not met and his Defence Against Dark Arts professor last year, Mad-Eye Moody. A fifth wand lit up and Harry saw a witch with a heart-shaped face, violet curly hair and brown, chocolate eyes. Harry did not recognize her either.

"Professor Lupin, what's going on?" He asked them. He suddenly looked around as if someone could be eavesdropping. "Where are they?"

"I'm not a professor anymore, Harry," Lupin said wearily. "As for your relatives, they've gone out. Apparently, they made sure you didn't know. We saw them going outside."

"What's going on?" Harry asked again.

"We'll explain on the way," Lupin said. "By the way, this is Kingsley Shacklebolt—" The tall, black Wizard bowed. "And Nymphadora Tonks—"

"Tonks, Lupin," the woman said.

"—who prefers to be called by her last name," Lupin finished. "And I believe you know each other, Mad-Eye Moody." Harry nodded. "We were late for a day. We didn't expect your relatives to leave the house. We had to split up along the way."

"Why?" Harry asked. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Harry," Lupin assured with a smile. "But we have to get going."

"Where?"

"Stop asking question," Mad-Eye Moody said. "If we don't get a move on, some of us are going to get killed."

"_What_?" Harry asked sharply.

"No one is going to die," Kingsley said to Harry. "We're going to Apparate to near London. From there, we're going to fly in our brooms."

"Pack your things, Potter," Moody interrupted just as Harry was about to ask.

Harry nodded and rushed to get his things that were actually packed already thanks to Uncle Vernon. He hadn't bothered to unpack his things since his uncle stowed them in one corner where no one could see and he wasn't allowed to take them out. Harry tried pulling them out but rolled his eyes, instantly remembering he was a wizard. "Accio trunk!"

The trunks shot out of the closet, snapping the ropes that bound it inside. Harry pulled his trunks with difficulty but Tonks came in and gave him a hand. He muttered a 'thanks', one hand at his broom, but he felt like he heard her at all.

"All packed up, Harry?" Lupin asked.

"Yes Professor—er, Lupin," he said.

"Once we get there, stay quiet. We're going to wait for a signal. When the signal is up, we fly. Follow me closely. At your sides would be Tonks and Kingsley. Moody would be behind you. A few people should join us soon there."

"Got it," he said nervously, placing his wand at his pocket. He was still wearing the clothes he wore this morning.

"Don't pocket your wand!" Moody said. "We don't know when they're going to attack."

"Right," Harry said, taking it out hastily.

"Ever Apparated, Harry?" Lupin asked.

"Yea."

Lupin stared at Harry, not really expected him to say yes. Harry, realizing the mistake, hesitated. "Er—I mean..."

"Later, Harry," Lupin said solemnly. "Now hold on tight..."

Remembering his experience with Ryou, Harry readied the nauseating feeling, holding Lupin's arms more tightly than he planned. Harry experienced the same feeling in his stomach and how his eye sockets were getting pulled. When Harry came in contact with the physical world, he touched his eyes unconsciously.

He looked around, not knowing where they were although he was told they should be by the outskirts of London. He didn't know why they can't just Apparate straight to wherever they were. Flying looked more dangerous especially in a freezing night.

"There's the signal. Onto your brooms," Moody muttered. Harry was red sparks on the sky. His trunk was tied at the end of his broom, Hedwig's care dangling. He climbed up his broom and when the group flew higher in the sky, Harry was shivering. He didn't exactly have the proper clothes. They also have to fly cautiously. The dense murky clouds were good to prevent detection especially from the Muggles. The caution made the flight slower though the trip became considerably faster when the a few Wizards joined in around just as Lupin explained.

A freezing hour later, they settled down in a completely empty lot.

Harry stared at the empty lot between two houses that had the numbers eleven and thirteen, but it looked like number twelve was a complete void.

"What—"

"Harry, read this," Lupin muttered to him, handling him a small piece of parchment. "Read and remember it."

Harry nodded. He read the parchment that said: The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.

Harry memorized the line a few times before nodding to Lupin. Mad-Eye Moody took the parchment and sparked flames from the tip of his wands to burn it. "…can't leave any evidence…"

"Where's the Order of the Phoenix—"

"Not here, Potter," Moody hissed sharply. "Now, remember the line again and again…"

Harry nodded, dictating in his mind what was written in the parchment. Slowly, a door appeared and it looked like a house was being filled with air like a balloon. It inflated and Harry wondered if the neighbours would notice the new wall just standing in between them. When no one else seemed to have notice the old-looking, ancient house that completely stood out, Harry thought it must be some kind of magic.

"Let's go," Lupin said, prodding Harry on the back to move and saying, "Be very quiet, Harry…"

Harry nodded stiffly. He woke up groggily though the icy flight had woken him up already. His senses were extremely sensitive to the cold night and the house that looked like it was haunted made the feeling colder. Quietly, he stepped on the worn stairs. Lupin took out his hand and he heard something clicking. He opened the door and the rest followed. Harry had this feeling everyone was avoiding to make a slightly creaking noise. It was also dark inside. It almost looked like they were thieving it…

"Can't we turn on the lights?' Harry asked in a hushed whisper.

Before Harry could get an answer, old-fashioned gas lamps sputtered into life on the walls, revealing the old peeling wallpaper, the dark gloomy hallway where a frayed, bristled carpet lay and also portraits hanging on the wall. There were noises of footsteps and he saw everyone raising their wands higher. Harry followed the suit quickly but almost dropped his wand when he saw the figure illuminated by the light.

"Harry!" Their voices, forcibly in a lowered voice, chorused.

"Ron, Hermoine!" Harry said in a lowered voice too.

Mrs. Weasley came from behind Hermoine and Ron, looking harassed. She looked at everyone's faces until her eyes fell on Harry. "Harry!" She said, embracing Harry. "How are you, Harry? Are you injured anywhere?" She asked, pulling away.

"I'm okay, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said.

"No one's hurt, Molly," Lupin assured her. "You better get Harry and the rest—"

There was a noise upstairs. Everyone shot their heads up to the ceiling except Mrs. Weasley who looked angry. "Boys—and _Ginny_. Come on Harry—you three, upstairs."

Harry looked at Lupin and the other members of the Order. Kingsley was talking to Lupin and Moody Accio-ed a glass of water where he put his left eyeball. Harry looked away when the blue eye looked in his direction. He then looked at Ron and Hermoine who was heading ahead upstairs. Harry was able to catch the look in their eyes and followed. Mrs. Weasley already forgot about them, only giving Harry one push and briskly walking upstairs.

Harry jogged to Ron and Hermoine. They exchanged looks and Harry frowned, but none of them spoke until they were in the hallway upstairs. Mrs. Weasley turned left while Hermoine and Ron were turning right.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked them.

"To your room," Ron said without looking.

"Where's your luggage, Harry?" Hermoine asked.

"Er," Harry turned while walking. "Downstairs. Should I get it?"

There was another noise, this time a crashing noise on the staircase.

"Sorry!" Came Tonks' voice loudly.

"Tonks! Shh!" Hermoine hissed.

Harry saw her pink, mousy hair standing out in the gloomy room. Tonks was carrying Harry's luggage with magic but somehow collapsed while climbing the staircase.

"Here's your stuffs, Harry," Tonks said cheerfully, keeping her voice down as possible.

"Thanks, Tonks," Harry said.

They got in the room. Harry saw the doorknob resembled of a silver serpent. Ron opened the door, following by Hermoine and Harry. Tonks swept Harry's luggage with her wand and they neatly placed themselves near the bed.

"See you lot later," Tonks said. "Nice meeting you, Harry."

"Tonks, where are you going?" Harry asked.

"Dumbledore would want some extra hands so Remus, Kingsley, Moody and I are heading out again," she said, leaving.

"Not your hands though," Ron muttered under his breath.

Hermoine gently closed the door and turned to look at both Ron and Harry. The three of them were alone in the dark room, quiet. Finally, Hermoine said something. "Let's turn on the light—" Hermoine pointed her wand on three suspended candles near the two beds.

Harry sank on the bed, too tired to remain standing. Ron sat on the other bed across the one Harry is sitting on. Hermoine remained standing, pursing her lips and stowing her wand.

"Wait—" Harry suddenly said just when Ron was about to say something. Ron glared at him. "—Sorry, but you just used magic!"

"We're allowed to," Hermoine said, suddenly growing alarmed. "Didn't you receive an official owl from the ministry?"

"No, I did—I forgot," Harry said, recalling the owl that joined Hermoine and Ron's owls.

"Well, since we're in the topic of the ministry..." Hermoine said, looking at Harry and Ron's faces if there were objections. When there was no sign, she continued, "The magical disruption is causing global trouble. It's been happening for quite sometime, but something seriously happened. There isn't any news about it yet. It would take a while since it's a global crisis that also involved Muggles. Different governments from all countries would have to have a conference so they're keeping confidential information to lessen the panic. I think it's a good course of action," Hermoine said, adding the last bit hastily before anyone could argue. "We shouldn't be rash in situations like this or we will cause unnecessary panic."

"Unnecessary panic?" Harry repeated, raising his voice slightly. "For all we know it could be Voldemort—" Ron hissed. "—is causing all this!"

"Dumbledore said that Vo...Voldemort—" ("Stop saying his name!" Ron hissed) "—would be keeping low. I doubt this is his doing. If it was, then it must have failed. Do you really think he would put a plan on action when all Wizards and Witches in the world could prepare against it?"

Harry's blood became cold at the mention of Dumbledore's name. He didn't write anything to Dumbledore nor did he get anything from Dumbledore. His summer was bearable with Ron, Hermoine, and occasionally his godfather, but they all lacked news. Hermoine kept on trying to comfort him—only recently did she write about something else. Ron wrote to Harry less than Hermoine because of their trip on Egypt and his godfather, chased after by the ministry, could only write seldom. Ryou however...

"What else do you know?" Harry asked rather coldly. He didn't mean his voice to be that way but Hermoine pretended it was nothing.

"Well, I didn't honestly expect to know more than what I should. I was having a summer with my family in Muggle territory."

"Los Angeles, right?"

"I didn't know that!" Ron interrupted indignantly.

"Ron, you were moving around Egypt. That's rather far. I couldn't write as frequent as I could write to Harry," Hermoine said as a matter-of-factly.

"So, what happened?"

"Do you remember the cards I sent to you on your birthday?"

"Oh yea! Harry, did you get the one I gave you?" Ron asked earnestly.

Harry would have liked to glare at Hermoine for bringing the topic up. Pig lost the package Ron gave him. Harry couldn't possibly say that so he smiled and nodded. "Yea. Thanks, mate!"

"Like them?"

Harry's smile twitched. "Yea."

Hermoine cleared her throat. "Well, anyway, I'm surprised you don't know this news, Ron."

"How was I supposed to know what?"

"You've been watching the television right?"

"The TV?" Ron asked. "Yea. Those hard and heavy box things."

Hermoine rolled her eyes. "Never mind. You weren't probably watching the news."

Ron looked at Harry, confused. Harry shrugged. "I've been watching the news. There was the eye in Japan—"

"Exactly," Hermoine said, pressing on the word. "Actually, there was a lot of audience at that time. For some reasons, Muggles didn't see the clear details so it wasn't something the ministry of the Wizarding community in Japan to make a move of. Subsequently, the magical disruption began when an organization called Doma showed up." Seeing the blank faces on their faces, she continued, "Doma was set-up by a rich European Wizard. He's living with Muggles and his job is a game company owner, rivalling Kaiba Corp.—"

"Kaiba Corp?" Harry asked, having met already the person himself. Hermoine didn't know this of course, not yet.

"It's the one _Seto_ Kaiba owns!" Ron said to Harry. When Harry looked at Ron, he almost saw Dudley's face in exchange of his.

"—He also owns a trade company in Germany." Hermoine continued.

"We're in _Britain_, Hermoine. Why are we getting to Germany and _Japan_?"

Hermoine ignored Ron. "Doma is among the organizations bridging the Muggle and Magical community. They're investigating the possibility of smuggling of an illegal magical artefact that the Muggles used for the popular Duel Monster game."

"Seriously?" Ron said, his jaw slightly dropping.

Harry was unconvinced. "_What_? For some game? I mean, yea, I think it's pretty cool, but they're assuming it was used for _that_?"

"They weren't simply assuming, Harry," Hermoine said. "They did their investigations. The origin of this problem is in Japan, and the game, while originating in America, is very popular in Japan. Kaiba Corp is a Muggle company and they recently caused a slight pandemonium about the appearance of Duel Monsters. They did not claim responsibility of this but the public was assured that it was an error from the system of Kaiba Corp. Muggles didn't take this seriously. I mean, monsters. The fans were happy, but the ministry of magic in Japan did a more serious investigation and found traces of magic and even damage. It couldn't be holographic monsters who did it. They looked up on who's been in contact with Kaiba Corp and Doma was among them. Being a Wizarding company secretly, they suspected there was a trade between the two in spite of the rivalry. It's possible Doma is trying to destroy Kaiba Corp."

"So...this Doma is the one behind it?"

"Possibly, we're not entirely sure, but I think there's more..."

Harry was starting to feel like there wasn't anything in it. It didn't involve anything about Voldemort. There were no deaths either and like Ron said, they were in Britain. Voldemort would not simply go out of the country...unless he has outside help. Could Doma be...? But from what he heard, it seemed like it was just between two different companies that were not even in Britain.

"Well," Ron said, breathing in and sighing, clasping his hands together. "How about some real news then."

Hermoine glared at Ron. "Oh fine. But Dumbledore also said—"

"Harry probably wants some news about You-Know-Who," Ron said darkly. Harry seemed to brighten then, glad that Ron knew his yearning all throughout the summer for news. Hermoine didn't miss it, crossing her arms and silently surrendering. "Harry, we saw the Dark Mark."

Both Harry and Hermoine looked surprise.

"The Dark Mark?" Harry repeated, his voice dry. He recalled the mark from last year in the sky. "Is everyone—"

"We're all alive, Harry, and no one's hurt. Or else mom would be crying all over the place." Ron said. "Well, there was this guy. He lost his whole family and..." Ron leaned closer, making a dramatic pause. "He survived the Killing Curse."

"The Killing Curse?" Hermoine repeated this time. "Someone else other than Harry?"

"Weren't you in Egypt?" Harry asked, eager to know more. "Why is Voldemort's mark in Egypt—"

"—If you keep on saying his name, I won't tell you anything!" Ron said angrily. "Stop saying his name!"

Not having time to argue, Harry said, "Okay, okay! So why is Vo—You-Know-Who's mark in Egypt?"

"I don't know, actually, but the Death Eaters attacked them. There must be something important. We were getting toured around Egypt when Mum and Dad left and we followed them. That's when we saw the mark and we went in. Some members of the Order were already there so we didn't even fight—"

"The Order? The Order of the Phoenix?" Harry asked. "What is that? This is supposed to be the Order's headquarters, right?"

"I'd like to know too what that is as well," Hermoine said, eying at Ron.

"I don't know," Ron answered. "Mum and Dad won't say anything but we know Dumbledore and some Wizards, Tonks, Moody, Lupin...and the others who were with you are in it! We couldn't eavesdrop in the Order's talk with the second Boy-Who-Lived."

"Second Boy-Who-Lived, Order of the Phoenix, the mark..." Harry stared at the floor. "Why didn't you tell me any of this?"

"Dumbledore said we shouldn't write to you after what happened," Ron said. "I mean, with that kind of information..."

"YEA!" Harry shouted angrily. "It isn't even in the Daily Prophet! No one's telling anything about Voldemort in the Daily Prophet!" Ron hissed again at the mention of the name. Hermoine winced slightly. "Or about this Dark Mark! And the Order of the Phoenix—is it some sort of secret organization? It sounds like it's something against Voldemort, but no one's saying anything about it! No one DOING ANYTHING! VOLDEMORT IS BACK AND THEY DON'T—"

"Harry!" Hermoine said with a shivering voice, trying to keep her voice stern. "Harry," she repeated when Harry calmed down slightly. "They didn't believe—"

"Didn't believe," Harry said deadpanned. "I SAW HIM—"

"We know!" Hermoine interjected. "We know, Harry! Dumbledore said he's back—Voldemort is back! But everyone is unconvinced—Now, Harry, you don't understand. They don't like to believe it and...well..." Her voice faded.

"Well?"

"You've been reading the Daily Prophet, right?"

"Yea, and like I said—"

"From cover to back?"

"No, only cover. I would think—"

"There are articles about you and Dumbledore," Hermoine said hastily and seriously. "And they've been making you look like a joke."

"What?" Harry asked, his voice completely dropping.

Hermoine thought of the right words to explain carefully but hastily. "It's on a passing—like, something completely...foolish. "A tale worthy of Harry Potter", and...I don't really want to say it, Harry." Hermoine looked at him pleadingly. "But they don't believe Voldemort returned and the ministry is convinced that you and Dumbledore are..."

"Crazy." Ron finished. "A liar."

"But Dumbledore said by the end of the school year that he came back. He told the truth!"

"That's the reason, Harry. And we only have your word for it. When the school year ended, everyone heard the news and has been reading the Daily Prophet, saying that you and Dumbledore were liars and seeking attention. It wasn't easy for them to hear that he's back."

"But he is! And I don't want attention. I--!"

"We know, Harry."

"We know, mate."

"But they can't hide it now, right? There was the mark and—and the one who survived the Killing Curse too—"

"I don't think so," Ron said. "The one who was there was the Order and us. As long as it's Dumbledore, even fifty witnesses will not convince the ministry.. And there's no proof that he survived, and they'll label him too. Dumbledore didn't want us to release information about it so we can protect him. He's a Muggle after all..."

"A Muggle?"

Ron grinned widely. "Yep. And you won't believe it! He's the second top duelist, Malik Ishtar!"

There was a _pop_ sound and three new figures Apparated into thin air. Harry immediately recognized the twins, Fred and George with their flaming red hair but the one who clung to Fred—or George—'s arm was a stranger. He was dark skinned with a long, Asian, light blond hair. His eyes were lavender and underneath them were black eyeliners.

"I told you, I'm not top two," he said, letting go of one of the twin's arm. The Asian spoke with an accent that was bit American, missing the British accent. He looked at Harry and Hermoine.

"Are you Malik?" Hermoine asked.

He nodded. He looked slightly cautious. "Who are you?"

"Hermoine Granger," she said.

Harry looked at Hermoine then at Malik. He outstretched his hand. "Harry Potter."

Malik looked at the offered hand before accepting and shaking it mildly.

"Hey second Boy-Who-Lived, no need to be so cautious with your co-star," Fred said.

"He's as harmless as Ron-kins," George said. Ron glared at them.

Malik smiled faintly, chuckling slightly. Harry wanted to ask so many things but felt like he would be offending Malik. From what Fred and George even added, he was cautious and it would take time to trust them, especially being a Wizard who killed his family...

"So everyone—"

"— little brother."

"Friend of my little brother."

"Girl friend of my little brother." Ron glared at the twins again.

"There's a meeting downstairs—"

"—and we're not supposed to be there—"

"—So who'd like to join?"

Malik frowned. "Them?"

"Can't we?" Ron asked.

"No."

"Hey, Malik, we talked about this!" Fred said.

"Or did we forget?"

"You did," Malik said, not at all smiling. "Whatever. Let's go."

Malik turned, opening the door to leave. Fred and George said, "Race you downstairs!" and they disappeared with a _pop_, Apparating again. When they were gone, Ron and Harry stood up and followed Malik. The group was quietly heading downstairs when only after several seconds later they heard the twins yell followed by Mrs. Weasley's distinctive scolding voice. The words were drowned immediately by horrible screaming. Harry was the first to run, taking out his wand immediately.

Harry stopped by the top of the stairs. "What's going on?"

Harry saw Mrs. Weasley pointing his wand and a man with a messy raven hair running out from the kitchen. Did the Death Eaters discover them and have attacked? Harry was just about to ready for an attack when nothing happened, and when he heard the ear-splitting screaming.

"Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness! Half-breeds, mutants, freaks, be gone from this place! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers—"

Harry saw the man running for the most realistic and largest portrait he has ever seen. The picture was a gaudy woman with flapping and wrinkling yellow skin. Her eyes were rolling and her mouth was spitting out words Harry would expect from Malfoy. The other portraits were silenced and the only noise they have to shut up was this woman.

"Shut up, you old hag! SHUT UP!"

The old woman in the portrait blanched and then her eyes bulging on her deep, venomous glare. "_Yoouuuuuu__!_" she howled. "_Blood traitor, abomination, shame of my flesh!_"

"I said—shut—"

"SHUT UP!"

A red jet of light hit the old woman's face. She screeched so horrible that Harry clasped his ears. Hermoine, Ron and the others flinched from the noise but the curtains instantly closed and the old woman was finally silenced.

"Sorry," came the same woman's voice who seemed to have cast the spell. She sounded exhausted. "Your mother caught me in a horrible mood."

Harry looked at the Witch who shot the spell. She looked extremely beautiful and foreign. She was blond with beautiful waves and curls of her long hair flowing smoothly down her back. She was wearing a black top with a violet vest, and a ridiculously tight and short skirt. Her fingers were rubbing her temples, wearily walking to lean on the wall. Her high heeled boots were echoing while inside the seemingly-abandoned house.

"That's her most powerful magic you just fought," the raven-haired man said, turning and Harry immediately recognized him. "I should be thanking you."

The woman sighed, crossing her arms and then looking up. She looked at Harry's direction and looked surprised. Harry looked past his shoulders and saw Malik, frowning and looking away.

"Oh, Harry!" Sirius said, finally noticing him. "It's unfortunate you've met my mother."

"Your mother?" Harry repeated.

"Sweet old mum, yea," he said grimly. "We've been trying to get her down but we think she put a Permanent Sticking Charm on the back of the canvas."

Harry stared at Sirius. "Why's your mum—"

"AH!"

"Wow, you really are our brother, Ron," Fred said to Ron. Ron looked like he just saw his spider, the animal he feared the most, especially when they're five times his height.

Ron was starring at the blond Witch and his jaw wide open. "Blo-bloody Hell!"

"Ron!" Mrs. Weasley chided.

"Mum, she's—she's Ma-Mai Kujaku!" Ron exclaimed. Of course, without Mr. Weasley, he didn't receive a very good reaction in the audience. He looked at Malik. "You know her, right? Both of you were finalists in the Battle City and you fought against each other."

Malik looked at Ron then at Mai. As soon as Malik looked at the Witch, Mai looked away. Hermoine elbowed Ron and Ron hissed, rubbing his side.

"Ron, show some of your manners," Mrs. Weasley said. "Kujaku is very tired. We're all rather exhausted." Mrs. Weasley then smiled and gestured to everyone. "Let's go downstairs to eat, all right?"

Mrs. Weasley let the teenagers go down to the bottom of the stairs. Fred disappeared with a wave of a wand, Apparating again. George remained, walking briskly to walk close to Harry. Harry was going to wait for Sirius until George pushed him a little as natural as possible to get away from the others. "Don't ask anything about Bill."

"What—" Harry just opened his mouth when George followed his twin brother's suit, Apparating.

They reached a door to the basement kitchen. The basement kitchen was much more welcoming than the hallways. It was made out of rough stone walls, a cavernous room where a single fire lit on the end of the room. There was a long dinner table in the middle of the room where scrolls, parchments, quills and bottles of inks, and even old books with pages flipping on their own. There were empty goblets on the table as well. Harry saw two Weasley distinguished by their red hair sat busily on the table.

Mrs. Weasley cleared her throat. Mr. Weasley looked up, dropping his quill. "Oh--" Mr. Weasley hastily scrolled the parchment he was reading. "Sorry, Molly."

"I told you to clear it up already before dinner," Mrs. Weasley said.

"Just a second," Mr. Weasley said. "Bill, Bill!"

Bill shot his head up, abandoning the scroll he was writing on. He noticed Harry and the others, immediately stowing all the scrolls and parchments scrawled on the table. He grabbed his wand and waved it, muttering, "_Evanesco__!_"

Instantly, all the items disappeared and the table was cleared. Harry saw Bill cleared up when he stood up and approached them Harry saw Bill no longer have the long ponytailed red hair he took pride on. He thought if Mrs. Weasley finally had Bill to cut his hair off or if it had something to do with what George whispered to them.

"Harry, had a safe trip?" Bill asked, shaking his hand.

"Yea," Harry answered.

Bill smiled but left Harry instantly. Surprisingly, he went over to Malik.

"Hey, Malik," Bill said, prodding the Asian on the back and toward the table. Harry didn't mind being left just like that, but he didn't expect Bill to be friendly to Malik. Malik didn't seem to be the type and he didn't know what relationship the two could have.

"Come on, Harry," Sirius said to his godson, placing a hand on his shoulder. Harry sat on a chair with difficulty. They have to push away some extras that were crammed in the room. Sirius sat beside him while Hermoine and Ron sat across them. Fred and George were helping Mrs. Weasley. Mr. Weasley disappeared from the room while Bill and Malik were talking over something. They were speaking in a language Harry couldn't understand. Mai on the other hand sat on one of the chair not around the table, resting her eyes.

"Sirius, what's going on?" Harry finally asked.

"I knew you'd ask that," Sirius said. He looked at Ron and Hermoine. "Did you three talk and fill each other out?"

"Well, Harry hadn't had his turn," Ron said.

"But I don't really know what's going on," Harry said. "I've been stuck all summer with the Dursleys and I haven't heard of anything about Voldemort."

"We explained to Harry why," Hermoine supplied. "But we still don't know what's going on."

"Yea, Sirius, what's going on? And why was your mother's portrait here?"

"Well, this is the house of Black, and since I'm the only Black left, it's mine and I offered to Dumbledore to make this the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix." And then, Sirius added with a hard tone, "It's all I can do after all."

"What's the Order of the Phoenix?" Harry asked, louder than he expected.

Harry looked up, feeling like something stopped in the background of chopping boards and boiling cauldron. Mrs. Weasley turned around to them, giving Sirius a very hard look. All the people in the room also looked up and the silence echoed. Mrs. Weasley's face was changing slightly. Sirius gave a cool gaze at Mrs. Weasley.

"Sirius, you shouldn't be telling Harry or the children any of this," Mrs. Weasley said in a sharp whisper.

"They're not children, Molly," Sirius said.

"They're not adults either!" Mrs. Weasley replied.

"Dumbledore already said that we have to tell Harry about this."

"Hey!" Fred interrupted. "We want to know what's going on too!"

Mrs. Weasley whipped around dangerously to the twins. "No! You're too young—"

"Molly, they're of age. I think—"

"They're my children, Sirius! I know what's best for them!"

"And I know what's best for Harry!" came Sirius voice that was trying to be calm. "Ron, Fred, George and Ginny have already been involved. They should already be aware of the danger they got into."

Mrs. Weasley hesitated. "I know but not everything! They know You-Know-You is back and as long as they bear that in mind..."

Sirius laughed coldly. When he did, Harry felt the hair on his neck standing on its end. "The problem is it's not enough. They need answers and they deserve it for what they've done."

Mrs. Weasley broke her gaze away from Sirius, busying herself with the cooking. Fred and George refused to help their mother adamantly, standing and waiting for her to say something.

"They're not members of the Order," Mrs. Weasley said, still busying herself.

"Then we'll join!" Harry said.

"You're too young!"

"But we're not!" Fred interjected again.

"They don't have to be members of the Order to know about Voldemort," Sirius said gravely. "We're not going to make them do missions or learn what they shouldn't know."

"I understand how you're feeling, Mum," Bill said.

It was then when Mrs. Weasley's hardened face melted. She looked like she was lost of words. When Mrs. Weasley turned around slightly, Harry saw some tears in her eyes. "Oh fine! But after dinner, Sirius!" Mrs. Weasley said, quickly turning around as to hide her face.

Fred and George grinned, happily obliging when Mrs. Weasley ordered them around. Harry glanced at Bill who continued to talk to Malik. He looked at Sirius. "What did Bill mean?" He asked.

"Oh," Ron said, realization dawning in his face. "I guess that fits..."

"What fits?"

"Well, you know, Bill's been dating someone and that someone happens to be Malik's older sister."

Hermoine's hands shot up to cover her gasping mouth. "And Malik's family were killed...and his family was part of the Order!"

"But he's a Muggle," Harry said.

"He's not a Muggle completely," Sirius answered. "The topic is already about the Order so I'm afraid I can't tell you about that, Harry. And it's best not to pry is someone else's business."

Harry simply nodded, though finding it strange for Sirius to say something like that. Harry then remembered something. "Sirius, did you get my letter?"

There was a flash of alertness in Sirius' face. He furrowed his eyebrows and his mouth was open. "What letter, Harry?"

"You didn't get any letter?" Harry asked again slowly.

"Harry, someone must have intercepted your letter!" Hermoine said.

Harry's hands curled into fists. "_What?_" Why would someone try to intercept his letter?

"Did Hedwig come back?" Sirius asked.

Harry's heart fell. "No," he answered. "She hasn't come back."

There was a _pop_ sound and Mr. Weasley appeared into thin air, looking exhausted. "Molly, we've got a problem."

There was a crashing noise on the hallway. Mrs. Weasley dropped the knife she was holding.

"Nothing to be alarmed off," Mr. Weasley said quickly, noticing the look in Harry and the faces of the others. "Just..._him_."

Mai immediately stood up from her seat, walking past Mr. Weasley and running off. Mr. Weasley followed. Malik stood up from his place but unlike Mai, he doesn't seem to plan on running off. He sank down on the chair again.

"You shouldn't involve yourself," he said. The people in the table grew silent again.

"Don't say that, Malik," Bill said.

"I can understand why—" Malik looked at Harry. "—he's involved but—"

Fred glared at Malik. "Come on Malik, don't be our mum."

"—You're just going to end badly!" Malik retorted. "Everyone around me just end like that! Yugi's friends, Isis, and Rishid!" Malik's head sank to his hands. "I should be dead. Isis should be alive. I...didn't want to live my life knowing Isis died for me!" Malik's eyes grew wet on his hands. No tears escaped his eyes and his face was hidden. His voice however spoke for everything else.

There was another gap of silence that followed. Mrs. Weasley had dinner finished. Fred and George helped their mother serving dinner then.

"It's hard to be the one left behind," Bill told Malik. "But Isis didn't die because of you, but you're alive because of her."

Malik slowly raised his head. His blond bangs were still covering his eyes and his head was turned away. Dinner was just about to start when the door swung open again. Everyone was just picking their spoon and fork to dig in when they paused.

Malik shot his head almost immediately. The wetness of his large, gawking eyes disappeared and he shot up from his seat again. Harry and the other Wizards and Witches didn't know what was going on—at least, that's what Harry thought. There was a blond Asian whose hair was much darker but skin paler than Malik. His eyes were mahogany and he was saying something Harry couldn't understand.

Harry heard footsteps following and he saw Ginny, Mr. Weasley, Mai and an unpleasant figure with cold eyes and black greasy hair.

"Snape!" Harry hissed. Sirius glowered at Snape, holding his spoon tightly. Snape studied the people around but his eyes lingered on Sirius the longest. A smile twitched on the man's lips and Sirius growled under his breath.

Harry wondered why Snape was here. Before he could ask, he saw Snape holding a cage. Harry looked inside the cage and he jumped up from his seat. "Hedwig!"

"AH!" Ron yelled.

Harry turned to his friend, seeing him gawk again.

"Bloody Hell, it's Katsuka Junichi!"

The blond looked at Ron, glaring. He pointed a thumb on his chest firmly. "_Katsuya__ Jounochi!_"

"What's going on?" Harry finally asked.

Mrs. Weasley stood from her seat. "Oh dear. Arthur, not right now!"

"Well, he woke up and he smelled your cooking, Molly. I guess he was hungry," Mr. Weasley said.

Ginny chuckled. "He's like a dog."

Mrs. Weasley shook her head. "Very well. Kujaku, could you tell him then to please sit down?"

Harry saw Mai nod to Mrs. Weasley with a smile. She looked much livelier than before. He decided not to bother listening to their discussion since he couldn't understand the language they were speaking. He was already confused enough.

"Ah, Severus," Mr. Weasley said, turning to the Potion Master who was standing by the door. "Would you like to join us for dinner?"

Both Fred and George hacked a cough. It could be evidently heard the 'no way' in between their coughs. Ron snickered, looking at his plate as if dinner tonight was funny.

"No," he said in a barely audible voice. "I came here because of Potter's owl," he said, his eyes floating on Harry.

"Harry's owl?" Mr. Weasley asked, taking the cage and handling it to Harry. "Why is Hedwig with you?"

"Why don't you ask Potter?" Snape said. "Aside from delivering astray owls, I came here for the Japanese. Dumbledore ordered me to give him expensive and very rare items to help him understand the common language in this country since he has this...incapability. And if I have to guess, he barely knew his own language."

Harry saw the Japanese glare at Snape. If what he said was true, then the Japanese was glaring at Snape even though he didn't understand what he said.

Snape looked at Mr. Weasley. He drew out a bottle from his robes and a pair of small silver triangular earrings. "The bottle contains crystal stones, one stone to be swallowed every week. When swallowed, it will control the tongue to automatically translate the language spoken to English. I've taken the initiative to turn it to crystals since taking too much or too little could cause fatal problems. The earrings are to be worn. It's an enchanted item that is not completely effective however."

There were chuckles when they saw the pair of earrings Mr. Weasley was holding. Snape then turned around and left, his cloaks billowing as he does.

"Kujaku, did you tell him all that?" Mr. Weasley asked.

Mai chuckled and the boy said something to her angrily with a faint blush on his cheeks. Mr. Weasley gave Mai the bottle and the pair of earrings. The Japanese blinked at the items on her hand. Putting the earrings on his ears was a bit troublesome because the Japanese was trying to get away. Ginny went in to help and, without mercy, clipped one of the pair in his other ear.

"Be more of a man," Ginny said, seeing him weep silently from the throbbing pain in his ear and pride. "So can you understand me, Jou?"

The male blinked, nodding slowly. Mai then opened the bottle, taking out one stone from it. She handed it to the Japanese. "Swallow it," she instructed.

The Japanese nodded, shutting his eyes closed, preparing for the worst and swallowing it. They heard him gulp it as if it was as big as rock and later on, choking. "GAH! That was HORRIBLE!"

They British laughed while the Japanese felt a strange sensation in his tongue. "La bla gah ta bah ya ra..." He was flicking his tongue, trying to stare at his own tongue in disbelief.

Ginny giggled. "Ew, stop that!"

"Wow, this is so cool!" The Japanese said. "And the 'L' feels strange. Strange is strange too."

Sirius chuckled. "There are a lot of strange things in this world..."

"Jounochi," he said. "Call me Jounochi."

"Sirius," Sirius said. "I own this house and this is Harry, my godson and his friends, Hermoine and Ron."

"We're Ron's big brothers," Fred said.

"The role model he's always looking up to," George said. "I'm Fred."

"And I'm George."

Jounochi furrowed his eyebrows. "I can't tell you apart."

"They aren't really that different," Malik said. Everyone seemed to have looked at him with surprise for speaking out. "But it's the other way around."

"How can you tell?" Fred asked. "Even when we first introduced ourselves to you, you were able to tell us apart."

"Magic," Malik answered sarcastically. Everyone chuckled.

Bill stood up from his place and shook Jounochi's hand. "I'm Ron, Fred, and George's older brother, Bill. There's another one of the Weasley aside from Ginny whom you've met. His name is Charlie but he's in Romania right now."

"I'm Arthur Weasley," Mr. Weasley said, almost pushing Bill to shake the Japanese' hand. "I'm a big fan of the game you've been playing—"

A lot rolled their eyes except for Ron.

"—and this is my wife, Molly," Mr. Weasley said, gesturing to her wife.

"Well, Jounochi, welcome. Make yourself at home," Mrs. Weasley said kindly.

"Molly, since this is my house, I think that's my line," Sirius said with a smile. The people inside the room shared another moment of laughter. The argument between Mrs. Weasley and Sirius seemed to have been part of the long past now.

Mrs. Weasley sat back down beside Hermoine. Mai and Jounochi sat across her. Fred and George sat on the other side of Siruis where Bill was. Across them was Malik. Ron was eating hungrily and Hermoine looked at his friend with disgust. Harry shrugged at the scene, eating in silence. The first part of the dinner was quiet and there was a lot of clanking noises of spoons and forks. Later on, Fred and George were talking to Malik. Malik was more responsive toward the twins. Harry caught that their topic was about Fred and George's shop in Diagon Alley, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. They were keeping their voices down though.

Mr. Weasley was talking to Jounochi and Mai about the Duel Monsters card game. Mr. Weasley was rather earnest to whatever the Japanese say. Harry looked at Mai who was mostly listening and smiling. She wondered if there was something between Mai and Jounochi though Harry thought Mai was too old for him despite her looks.

"Hey," Ginny said, sitting beside Harry who let Hedwig out of the cage. "Hi Sirius, Ron, Hermoine."

"'Lo, Ginny," Harry said. Hedwig had perched on Harry's shoulder, hooting before flying off to the bowl of owl food Mrs. Weasley left on the floor.

"Hello, Ginny," Sirius said.

"Hi Ginny," Hermoine said. Ron just nodded at Ginny, his mouth filled with food.

"Ginny, how did you know him?" Harry asked.

"Jou? You can just call him Jou. Japanese names are hard to pronounce," Ginny said, grinning. "I've been taking care of him."

Ron's mouth dropped open. "How come Mum's letting you do something about the Order?"

"She didn't have a choice. I overheard them talking and I said I wanted in. They needed an extra hand even if it's babysitting."

"I don't understand," Harry said. "What's a Muggle doing here? Why would Voldemort kill Malik's family?"

The chattering stopped. There were a lot of goblets and dining utensils dropping when Harry mentioned Voldemort. Ron choked on the food he was eating. Hermoine refilled his goblet when Ron's goblet ran out. Harry talked louder than he expected. Harry tried not to hesitate. He was getting too confused already.

"I think all of us are mostly done eating dinner," Sirius said, putting down his goblet and breaking the silence. "So Harry, what would you like to ask?"

"What's the Order of the Phoenix?" He asked. He grew anxious and excited at the same time. He was finally going to get answers.

"It's the Order that's been fighting Voldemort. Dumbledore organized the Order. We're part of the Order, including the Wizards that were with you when you came here. Bill's also part of the Order."

"So what's the Order been doing? Against Voldemort? Does the Order know where he is?"

"No. Voldemort's keeping low right now especially since the Magical Community thinks Dumbledore is lying about Voldemort coming back."

"I've heard," Harry said. "They've been ridiculing him."

"And you," Sirius said, smiling slightly. His face grew more serious. "I think you've been filled already about the Order. What else would you like to ask?"

Harry grew quiet. He didn't know what else to ask—no, he wanted to ask a lot of things but he knew he wasn't going to get answers, especially matters that might be personal.

"I have a question."

Everyone's eyes turned to the Japanese.

"What's going on?" Jounochi asked. "I know it would sound rude if I suddenly ask questions but I think I deserve it. I don't know what's going on and why I'm even in this place."

"Britain," Ginny answered.

Jounochi's jaw dropped. "But I was just in Japan! And how come Mai and Malik are here! The events are still spinning in my head so this confusion's really making my head hurt."

"Jounochi," Mai said quietly. She eyed at every member of the Order in the table. "We'll have to talk about that later."

"At least when we're not around, right?" Harry said flatly.

"Harry!" Hermoine chided Harry quietly. Harry pretended not to hear her.

"But I'm directly involved with Voldemort!" Harry said defiantly. A lot of the people inside twitched. "I should know what's going on and these dreams I've been having! There was this blue light, some lot with insane hairdo, a labyrinth of staircases—"

Two chairs scratched the floor and Malik and Jounochi were standing up.

"That sounds like Yugi!" Jounochi shouted. His eyes were wide and shaking. There was deep fear inside his eyes. His fingers curled into fists and his body was shaking. Jounochi's head hang down and droplets of tears fell from his eyes.

"Staircases," Malik said. "I didn't know what it was, but I had that dream too. And there was blood." Malik stared at the hands of his that were flat on the table. He narrowed them as if he was trying to see the dream materialize in reality. "I thought it had something to do with Isis and Rishid but it can't be a coincidence," he said quietly, looking up to Harry.

"I'm not sure about the labyrinth part," Jounochi said, holding his sobs. He looked up, unafraid of showing his watery eyes. They weren't completely weak—fear seemed to have run with the tears that flowed from the eyes. "But I just know it had something to do with Yugi. I need to save Yugi!"

"Save the King of Games?" Ron asked skeptically. "Is he in danger or something?"

"He's missing!" Harry said, remembering the news. "I heard it in the news!"

"News travel fast," Mai said suspiciously.

"It's true," Mr. Weasley said, cupping his chin.

"He's King of Games!" Ron said loudly. "How can news _not_ travel fast?"

"The world doesn't center on card games, Ron," Hermoine said. "Besides, he only became King of Games because it's the title he got for defeating the creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillian Pegasus."

"She's right," Malik said. "Yugi's popular for beating Pegasus and Seto Kaiba but the only events he joined were Duelist Kingdom and Battle City. Battle City has been over for almost three months. I doubt they'd be keeping tabs on Yugi forever."

"Is Seto Kaiba involved in all this?" Harry asked.

Malik raised an eyebrow, finding the question strange. Jounochi shook his fist in the question, growling Kaiba's name.

"I don't know if he's involved or not," Malik answered. "But even if he doesn't care, he's bound to know first what happened."

"Why won't he care?"

"He's KAIBA!" Jounochi yelled. "That damn Kaiba! I'm going to beat him someday to wipe that smirk from his face!"

"What is he talking about?" Hermoine asked loudly but most of the people were just smiling slightly though confused.

"But isn't he a Wizard?" Harry asked, now furrowing his eyebrows. Sure he didn't sound like he lived a Wizard life...

"Wizard?" Jounochi laughed hard. Most faces were stoical now. "Wizards! Hahaha! I'll call Kaiba that someday! A _Wizard_!" This time, not even a smile came to one face even if it was confusing, save for Fred and George.

"Hey Jou, look behind you!" Fred said.

Jounochi blinked, turning his head but seeing nothing. "What? There's nothing there."

George waved his wand. "How about now?"

There was a _pop_ sound as Fred and George Apparated. Jounochi was about to turn to look what the noise was until his heart almost had a heart attack as two red-haired Weasleys Disapparated into thin air. "AAHH!"

"Fred, George!" Mrs. Weasley scolded.

"But Mum, we just wanted to show him some magic," Fred said.

Ginny was giggling, seeing Jounochi's hand clutching his chest. He was breathing so hard his ribs were rising and falling and his face grew evidently paler.

"How-how did yo-yoou two do that?" Jounochi stammered.

"We quote Malik—"

"_Magic_," the two said in unison, eerily sounding like Malik especially the facial expression they had.

"MAGIC?" Jounochi yelled. "That can't be true! I mean, yea, there were those creepy stuffs from before but nothing like that!"

"Creepy stuffs?" Fred asked with a grin, looking at his twin brother.

"You'd like the Magical Community then."

"Fred, George, stop that now!" Mrs. Weasley said, standing from her seat. "We will explain this properly to Jounochi."

"Wait, I'm not as skeptical as Kaiba and I already experienced some of this magic stuffs so I'm going to believe about Wizards, Magical Community and wand waving things but Mai, are you a Wizard too?" Jounochi asked, looking at Mai.

"I'm a Witch—"

"A WITCH?" Jounochi screamed, looking extremely pale. "Now it makes sense!"

"Excuse me?" Mai snarled, standing up from her seat. "What makes sense?"

"You're probably hundreds of years old but you're using some kind of magic or some potion to make yourself look beautiful and young—"

Mai's fist came flying and hitting Jounochi's nose. Jounochi crouched down on a corner, nursing his bleeding, and possibly even broken. Mai was snarling. She no longer looked as young and beautiful as Jounochi said.

Ginny was laughing out loud with Fred, George, Ron and Harry. Sirius was the only adult laughing. Mrs. Weasley went over to treat Jounochi's nose. Mr. Weasley looked thoughtful and confused of Jounochi's assumption and Bill was holding back his laughter.

"What spell did Jounochi mean?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"It's a Muggle legend about witches," Hermoine kindly answered. "Though there's some truth in it. In Muggle legend, Witches are horrible-looking hags who concocts potion to transform their physical appearance, poison Muggles and are said to be behind cursing during medieval times. They were hunted down by Muggles."

"So it's just a legend?" Jounochi asked, appearing less cautious after Mrs. Weasley had nursed his nose with a simple wave of a wand. Mrs. Weasley took a clean towel to clean the blood on his fixed nose. Jounochi blushed slightly as Mrs. Weasley dabbed on it. Being unused to motherly compassion, Jounochi blushed like a little child quietly.

"Witch is what we call female magical people," Hermoine explained.

Jounochi looked at Mai. "Er, sorry!" When Mai ignored him, he put his hands together and bowed, raising pleadingly his hands and asking for his forgiveness. "So you use wands and all that?"

"We do," Sirius said. "But under-aged wizards can't use magic outside their school."

"School?" Jounochi asked. "You go to school? A magical school?"

"Unfortunately," the twins said in unison.

"And if I'm not mistaken," Sirius said, hiding a smile. "That's where you'll be going too."

"What?" was Jounochi's immediate word.

"Jou is going to _Hogwarts_?" Ron asked disbelievingly.

"But he's a Muggle!" Hermoine said. "And he's too old already."

"I think it would be cool," Ginny said. "It would make the year interesting."

"More interesting, you mean, my little sister," Fred said.

"Oh no, he's not a Muggle. He's a Wizard, a pureblood Wizard, in fact."

"A _Pureblood_?" Ron repeated.

"How can this be?" Harry asked. "Don't they have a school for wizards in Japan?" Harry paused at his own question. No one seemed to have noticed, barging the adults questions about Jounochi's situation. Harry slowly remembered Kaiba, a Japanese duelist just like Jounochi. He did know he was a Wizard but he never asked why he's starting school year now especially abroad and why his friends (or acquaintances) don't know about him.

"I'm afraid we won't be answering that, kids," Mr. Weasley said, rising from his chair. "It's time for bed."

"You can't leave us hanging!" Ginny protested.

"Yes we can," Mrs. Weasley said, waving her wand to make the plates, goblets, spoon and forks fly and clean by themselves. "We're your parents. And Harry, you're as good as my son, so that includes you."

Harry was a bit busy in his thoughts, waking up when Mrs. Weasley said his name. When he realized what she said about him, he felt strangely warm inside. Sirius laughed, shaking his head.

"Besides, it's got nothing to do with the Order anymore," Sirius said. "It's personal, so it's best to tell matters about him first to himself. He'll tell you if he wants you to know."

It seemed like what Sirius said was the key to make everyone give up. They glanced at Jounochi who fell quiet and thoughtful. Ginny yawned, getting off her chair.

"Well, I'm off then. Night everyone," Ginny said. She also waved at Jounochi casually who nodded to her.

"Come on, Hedwig," Harry said, freeing his arm for the snow white owl to perch on. He followed Hermoine and Ron who joined Ginny's suit. He had glanced back before he ran after his friends, leaving the kitchen basement. The only ones left in the room were Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Bil, Sirius, Mai, Malik and Jounochi.

"Don't even think of eavesdropping," Hermoine whispered. "Like Sirius said, it's personal and I agree. Jounochi will tell us if he trusts us."

"Who said anything about eavesdropping?" Ron shot back.

"I think I have enough to think for tonight," Harry said slowly.

"I'm sure Jou will tell us tomorrow," Ginny said. "If not, then we'll threaten him somehow to talk."

Meanwhile, as the wizards headed to their room, Mrs. Weasley and Bill cleaned the dishes for tonight. Malik and Jounchi sat beside each other though Malik was evidently trying not to get too close. Mai was standing behind them and both Sirius and Mr. Weasley were across them. The spare chairs were put aside.

"I'm sorry we couldn't give you a proper explanation, Jounochi," Mr. Weasley said. "We're the only members of the Order who are available tonight. Dumbledore is extremely busy. It would have been better if he met you at person first."

"Who's Dumbledore?"

"He's the headmaster of Hogwarts, the school you're entering, the founder of the Order of the Phoenix, and the person Voldemort fears."

"Who?"

"Sirius, please stop saying his name!" Mrs. Weasley's plea came.

"He's our enemy, the dark Wizard who is feared by many, as you can see. We call him You-Know-You out of fear." Sirius explained, removing Jounochi's confused face to a firm nod. "Let me explain first. The Magical Community is separated from the non-magical folks we call Muggles. Pure Wizards are known to be as Purebloods while we call wizards Half-Half if their parents are a wizard and a Muggle. We thought magic is restricted only in our side, but for some unexplained reasons Muggles gain magical ability and are welcomed into this world. They are called Muggle-borns. You-Know-You has a band of Death Eaters, Purebloods who believe in the purity of the blood. They want to eradicate all Muggle-borns and hate all Muggle related.

You-Know-Who's reign of terror stopped when he tried to kill Harry with the Killing Curse. He survived the curse, causing it to backfire and killing You-Know-Who. Obviously, that's what we thought. He came back last year in the flesh but the only one who saw him was Harry during the Triwizard Tournament in Hogwarts. Dumbledore believed his word but the Magical Community doesn't, especially since the Ministry makes a fool of Dumbledore. The minister, Cornelius Fudge is afraid of Dumbledore. He's afraid he's trying to overthrow him since everyone always wanted Dumbledore as their minister even though he made it clear he just wanted to be the Headmaster of Hogwarts."

"You lost me some part later," Jounochi said, scratching the back of his head. "But I get it. An evil organization who has this selfish ambition with a bastard leader and the world doesn't believe he's back and running. And I bet everyone here's fighting him, right?"

Mr. Weasley and Sirius smiled. "That's right."

"Well, as long as I'm on the good side, you can count on me! Though to be perfectly honest I have no idea what part of myself can be in this whole mess...I mean there's still..."

"The Orichalcos," Mai said, closing her eyes.

"So that's where I somehow got in this mess..."

"Kujaku is a member of the Order," Mr. Weasley said. "She's..."

"I've been traveling as a duelist on orders," Mai finished. "I'm a duelist at heart, believe me. Dumbledore knew it was painful but it was the perfect job for me. That was until...recently...I did have orders to investigate Doma but Dumbledore imagined it differently..." Mai's voice faded grimly.

"It's because of me, isn't?"

They looked at Malik who felt more ashamed under their glance.

"At that time in the Battle City..." Malik stared at the stone walls. He couldn't remember it but he knew it was him. The memory was vague but the screams of terror were true. There was his own laughter, menacingly laughing. There was darkness and pain. Malik made it all happen, on this woman who suffered because of him. In the end, he was unpunished, or maybe punishment was now on the expense of his family. Malik gritted his teeth and his breathing became heavy.

"I practically killed you!" Malik yelled. Angry and sad, pained tears rolled down his eyes. "You and Yugi's friends! I both battled you and...killed you!"

Bill instantly left the dishes, running beside Malik. He held Malik's shoulders and steered the boy until they came face to face. Without saying anything, Bill embraced the Egyptian boy with his wide arms. Malik's chin rested on Bill's opposite shoulder. Both Mai and Jounochi looked quite surprised, not expecting this brotherly-like relationship between them. Mr. Weasley and Sirius remained quiet but Mrs. Weasley was silently sobbing.

"Malik..." Jounochi said. "I'm not blaming you. It's not because you were weak or evil because you never were! It's because of fate. Things were meant to happen when the problem started and now, it's gone. There's nothing we could do to make a problem disappear but to go through it. And we did it, Malik."

"What happened to me has got nothing to do you with you," Mai said, smiling slightly from what Jounochi said. Somehow, his words comforted her and part of her troubled, unanswered thoughts seemed to have found light. The ease made her smile. She looked up and confidently said, "Like Jounochi said, it must be fate."

Malik pulled Bill away, puffy eyes weary from the tears while Bill rubbed his back. Malik closed his eyes, breathing in and out quietly.

"But why am I still alive?" Jounochi asked, starring at his hands. "I'm sure the Orichalcos was taking my soul..."

"That's where we came in," Mr. Weasley said. "We know where Kujaku was and we were able to repel the Orichalcos in time when we saw it taking your soul."

"Repel it?" Jounochi asked.

"The Orichalcos can grant great power but it will slowly pull the darkness inside a person. It causes a person grief and pain. Almost just like a Dementor, a creature who feeds on sadness," Bill said to Jounochi. "We gave it a shot with the Patronus Charm, used to counter the Dementor. Our Patronus can break through the Orichalcos, opening a temporary path. We let our Patronus lead the way then we pulled you out of the Orichalcos."

"I'm still confused," Jounochi said. "But it's going to sink in," he added, grinning. "But how about Malik?"

Sirius cleared his throat. "It's quite personal."

"It's all right," Malik said, smiling at Jounochi. "You're right and I know I can trust Yugi's friends—well, except Kaiba. And maybe Bakura. Sometimes."

"Who?" Sirius asked.

"Old friends," Jounochi said, crossing his arms with a satisfied smile. His smile suddenly dropped to a glower. "Except Kaiba."

"It happened a week ago," Malik said. "I met the Weasleys in Egypt when Isis and Rishid were attacked by Death Eaters. They were killed, and Isis died to save me." He looked at Jounochi. "I was shot with a Killing Curse like Harry but survived, but I know my sister protected me."

"Isis and Rishid?" The Japanese asked with wide eyes. "They're both...they're both dead?" His face instantly changed at the topic of death. It was the same face he had at the mention of Yugi's name. "How...how could they do this to them?" Jounochi growled, clenching his hands to balls of fists.

"They're going to do it more frequently in the future," Sirius said solemnly.

"If Yugi hears about this..."

"Yugi is missing, right?" Malik said, looking at the members of the Order. "What happened?"

"His soul was taken!" Jounochi answered . "The real Yugi. The other Yugi used the Seal of Orichalcos against Raphael and lost. Yugi sacrificed himself for the other Yugi."

"Other Yugi?" Mai asked.

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked, bemused.

Jounochi leaned back on his chair. "Well, I'm not really sure but I know there's another Yugi inside the puzzle."

Malik nodded. "I can confirm that but I don't think you should know anymore about it."

Sirius arched an eyebrow. "Why not? We can help you find your friend and—"

"No," Malik said firmly, glaring at Sirius. "It's none of your business."

Sirius glowered. "You know the seriousness of the situation, Malik, and why we're doing this."

Malik stood up from his chair. "I said I can trust Yugi's friends."

Sirius opened his mouth and was ready to stand up but Mr. Weasley placed a hand on his shoulder, shaking his head. "It's enough for tonight, Sirius. We'll have to wait for Dumbledore."

"Malik, you should get to sleep. You too, Jounichi," Bill said.

"Didn't I just wake up?"

Bill smiled. "And now you should get back to bed."

Malik and Jounochi nodded. They exited the basement kitchen, Malik leading the way. The two were now alone as they walked through the hallway quietly. Jounochi was behind Malik, not for the reason he didn't know where to go, but because the portraits and the style of the house just shouted ghost to him.

"Ma-Malik di-did th-a-that po-porta-tra-traiit mo-move?"

"Pictures move here," Malik explained, smiling.

"Bakura's going to love being a wizard," Jounochi muttered with a shaky voice. He was very pale again. "I can't believe I'm a wizard."

"They mentioned you're a Pureblood. You know, this mean both your parents are wizards," Malik said.

Jounochi didn't answer for a brief second. Malik looked at Jounochi on the corner of his eyes. "I know. I don't think they know why my parents didn't tell me, and I don't think they even used magic. It's not that troubling. They're still my parents and they must have their reasons but Shizuka is a Witch."

Malik didn't ask anything else so the walk has been quiet minus their echoing footsteps. As they walked, Malik thought if the encounter with the magical world was part of the Pharaoh's destiny. His sister and his brother knew the mission their ancestors have left them. There must be a reason why Isis joined the Order and why she kept this a secret from Malik.

"_Isis, I know you trust the Order but I don't trust them yet. The Pharaoh's vessel is already missing and the Pharaoh is fighting a dangerous game, a game that does not involve his destiny. Modern magic and an agenda abroad; what does this have to do with him? What does it have to do with our mission?"_

When they reached the room, Jounochi yawned loudly, getting inside. Malik stopped on the door, not listening to Jounochi's rants of the head of ugly elves he saw hanging on the wall along the stairs.

"_Was it for the pharaoh, or for me...?_"

Malik slipped down under the blankets without changing his clothes. He didn't remove his tunic since it was much colder in Britain. He lied awake on the bed, starring at the dark ceiling. Somehow, he was able to ignore Jounochi's snoring and continued to brood until he fell asleep.

On another room where Ron was snoring, Harry Potter had another dream. Finally, he found the right door. Excitement rising, he opened the door and found a small, narrow hallway. He walked, only finding two doors on either side. One was an ominous black door with a strange, carved eye while on its opposite was a white door, something Harry would find in a Muggle house. Before Harry could try and open either door, he woke up.


	8. Secrets In The Twilight I

**Author's note:**  
Before finishing chapter note: I did my best in this chapter and I finally got to put the style that I wanted. Hope it's good enough.

Also, someone pointed out that Yugi isn't the only owner of the Dark Magician from Chapter 2: From Filling Fragments, the one Kaiba read over the news in the net. Your answer can be found here, and a question that Kaiba and Ryou talked about in Chapter 6: The Problem In The Other Side and the same question that even Harry and co mentioned in Chapter 7: The Order Of The Phoenix regarding..okay, won't spoil it now.

If you were one of my older readers, I suggest you reread the story because the arc finale of the Gabriel Wind History is already the next chapter so the answers to some mysteries and finally clearing the situation over the YGO-verse (since I started this in the setting of HP by Harry's POV) will be told. Even if it's unbearable, try. I know it sucked! But I was twelve—okay, not much excuse there.

I'm saddened Chapter 7 wasn't very popular but I guess it's because most were just dialogues considering Mai, Jounochi and Malik met each other and met Harry plus the Order of the Phoenix. Yep, and a lot of talking and explaining and reaction here and there—or it was bloody long.

Also, if someone asked why the title is "Harry Potter and the Silver Core of Dual Magic", your answer will be in gazillion chapters later just like how many episodes it took Bakura for his plan to unfold in the anime. Unless you're a smart person with sharp eyes and listing out details, you might know halfway through.

Enjoy.

After finishing chapter note: And I now cut this chapter into two instead because it's simply too long. The main part will be on the next chapter.

* * *

Morning began to wake the little population in the noble house of Black. The cool morning air outside did not refresh the wizards inside the Unplottable house because of the mess that stirred in every untouched corner. It was quite a large place inside and there was a lot to do to make the place inhabitable for humans. There were pests that needed to be taken care off and junks to be thrown or sacked.

This day started out quite simple. There would be breakfast and then followed by complete house cleaning lockdown. There were members of the Order who would occasionally come by but then disappear almost instantly like ghosts. Everyone was kept doing something until sundown where they were exhausted, sweating and in need of something to eat and drink this instant. Tonight, things will turn the day of work in a moment of truth when Albus Dumbledore finally arrived, and...

* * *

**Secrets In The Twilight I**

* * *

Jounochi stayed up in bed the whole morning. Whether he was aware of it or not, Malik, his room mate, in the habit of waking up early or simple annoyed by his snoring, left him long ago. His bed covers were completely pulled out and the pillow of his bed somehow found itself halfway across the room. Jounochi muttered something about Honda and Otogi keeping away from his sister.

He lazily opened his eyes. His mouth was slightly hanging with saliva on the corner of his lip. He wiped it out absently and stood up, slouching. He scratched his head, yawning loudly and little tears coming out from his eyes. He rubbed his eyes, squeezing his eyes shut and opening it again.

"Bathroom," he muttered. He stood up and looked around. He blinked, only realizing he was alone. "Malik?"

Jounochi stood up languidly and began to walk dully to the door. He opened the snake-shaped doorknob, peeking through the door to see if anyone was on the hallway. It was quiet though he figured it was already past morning.

"Malik?" he called out again. Jounochi paced through the hallway, figuring that he should find the bathroom on his own. He didn't know who was exactly behind the many doors in the house though so he cautiously knocked. When no one answered, Jounochi would try opening the door. Most doors were closed and the rest were empty. None of them were bathrooms.

"Damn, I need to piss..." Jounochi muttered, feeling the urgency rising until he can find the bathroom.

An opened door caught Jounochi's eyes. He saw something that looked like the bathroom with the presence of a shower. He grinned, tiptoeing hurriedly to answer the call of nature.

"Anyone here?" Jounochi asked, opening widely the door. "How do wizard toilets look like..." He mused out loud, trying to find subconsciously the switch to the lights hanging on the wall. He remembered that there was no electricity in the house but he didn't have—or at least, didn't know how to use magic yet so he couldn't turn on any lights.

Jounochi looked if there was any window. Tough luck. Well, this was an emergency so he'll have to find the toilet or he's going to do it in his pants.

Jounochi saw the toilet across the large shower with curtains hanging around. He quickly bent over, pulling up the cover on the toilet after commenting that it looked just like an ordinary toilet.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

His rear crashed painfully on the stone floor. The racket he made alone with his yell attracted alarmed people from downstairs. Hurriedly they rushed upstairs. Malik, Harry and Hermoine were closest to the bathroom where Jounochi was in, immediately leaving the attempt to battle some doxies.

"Jounochi-kun!" Malik shouted urgently.

"Jou!" Harry shouted, stopping in front of the door. Just as he did, Jounochi crept outside speedily with four legs, trying to get away from something as much as possible.

"KAIBA JUMPED AT ME FROM THE TOILET!" Jounochi cried out.

The first reaction was Malik's laughter.

It turned out there was a Boggart hiding in the toilet. Harry cast a Riddikulus spell instantly when he caught a glimpse of the cold, sneering blue eyes of the CEO that changed to the hollow, empty eye sockets of Dementors when it approached Harry. The rest of the household came rushing in asking what happened and Hermoine supplied them the story.

"Jou probably needed to answer the call of nature," Fred said an impish grin forming on his face.

George snickered. "Guess he's done now."

Mrs. Weasley, Ginny and Ron went back in cleaning the shelves downstairs. Mr. Weasley, Bill, and Mai went back to Order business though they initially helped with the cleaning but weren't very good at the job so they went back to what they do best (Mai especially disliked the cleaning).

Jounochi joined Malik, Harry, and Hermoine in fighting the doxies. Both Harry and Hermoine would normally use wands but Harry gave up since the doxies were too fast and he couldn't aim as well as Hermoine. She is able to conjure stunning spells quickly too and effectively. Malik was swinging something like a baseball bat, which looked like a stick with a triangle crest tip, covered in dark green cloth. When Jounochi saw it, Malik winked at him. He just had an idea what was beneath that cloth.

"I can't believe you're scared of Kaiba," Harry said to Jounochi. Jounochi was very good at catching the doxies. Harry would do the honours of stunning them and their teamwork began there. Sometimes Jounochi's swift punches would get in Hermoine's casting, leading to some near-accidents results but most of the time, Jounochi has been helpful.

Jounochi grunted. "I'm not scared of Kaiba."

"_Ahh, Kaiba jumped at me from the toilet_!" Malik imitated with an awfully girlish voice. He swung the rod on his hands again, sending doxies flying and almost hitting Harry in the face.

"MALIK!" Jounochi growled. Malik just grinned at Jounochi but it didn't make the blond smile in any way. He turned away furiously. "I'm not scared of that bastard!"

"It's quite apparent," Hermoine observed, resting for a while and wiping a sweat on her forehead. "There must be another reason why."

Jounochi looked down, stopping his fists from grabbing or hitting any of the annoying doxies at the moment. The others gave him a lingering glance. "I know, but to be honest, I don't know what I'm scared of. I mean, sure I'd be scared if any of my friends are in danger but it's natural to everyone, right? I'm not really sure what's Kaiba's relation to that either."

"So you don't know what you're afraid of?" Malik asked though saying he stated it is much more specific. "We can always find more Boggarts in this place, though finding them in a toilet is very hilarious."

"Har-har Malik."

"The earrings compliment you, by the way."

The group other than Jounochi shared a moment to laugh together.

Noon came by and it came increasingly hot. Mrs. Weasley started cooking lunch until some members of the Order came. Tonks and Lupin stopped by. Tonks helped Mrs. Weasley with the cooking, try as hard as Mrs. Weasley tried to modestly told Tonks not to, insisting she should rest. Lupin joined Sirius in the search for anymore hidden 'traps' left behind, more dangerous than exterminating pests.

Harry and the group saw Lupin coming up, waving at their former professor.

"You're going to take down some traps?" Harry asked. "That sounds cool."

"Sirius would like to do the action," Lupin said with a smile. "Wouldn't you, Padfoot?"

"If you find any Boggart, save it for Jou," Malik piped. "We're going to try and find out what he's afraid of, and maybe me too."

"I don't see the problem with that. As long as Harry and Hermoine will be with you, there's no problem. They're two of my best students two years ago."

"Moony's going teacher talk, better run, Harry," Sirius joked. He was being much more cheerful doing something especially with the many company in the house.

Everyone was called in for lunch afterwards. Harry was very hungry but Jounochi looked like he was the hungriest even though he woke up late and missed the more difficult task that morning. Bill didn't accompany Malik, not even sitting beside him on the large table. He was talking to his father and Lupin about the goblins in Gringotts. Tonks was changing her appearance by the demands of the twins and Ginny. Mrs. Weasley was talking to Sirius about some parts of the house that has yet to be cleaned. They were holding a very good conversation despite last night. Lastly, Harry and co. were with Jounochi and Malik.

"So werewolves exist?" Jounochi asked, having heard of the part-werewolf, Lupin. Previously, he was amazed of Tonks who can change her appearance but Lupin's case surprised him more.

"Many things exist that Muggles thought doesn't," Harry answered.

"Most monsters in the game actually exist," Ron added. "Species anyway, like serpents, _dragons_ and goblins and elves. The DM definition of goblins and elves are a bit different though."

"DM definition?" Hermoine echoed.

"Duel Monsters definition," Ron said crossly. Hermoine rolled her eyes.

"Why's that?" Jounochi asked curiously.

"Goblins are smarter and smaller in reality and elves are small tykes with their own elf magic. They're called house elves who lives to serve their master," Ron said casually, eating a spoonful.

Jounochi was caught off-guard. "That sounds...harsh. You mean the purpose of the elves is to serve?" Jounochi had an image of the two elves Yugi has, Mystical Elf and the Obnoxious Celtic Guardian.

"They somehow find it honourable to serve their master with or against their will," Hermoine said sympathetically. "They just don't know how it feels to be free. There's Dobby, the house elf Harry freed in the second year by tricking Mr. Malfoy, Dobby's former master to freeing him."

"That's cool," Jounochi said, looking over at Harry. "How'd you do it?"

"I gave a book with my sock in it," Harry said. "Then Mr. Malfoy gave it to Dobby."

"So?"

"When you give any cloth to the house elf, you set the house elf free. Harry gave a book with his sock in it. The sock was Mr. Malfoy's then and when he handed him the book with the sock in it, Dobby was given a sock," Hermoine explained.

Jounochi took an angry bite. "Then wizards should give all the house elves some socks to let them all free!"

Ron gagged on his food and Harry kept quiet, pausing on his meal. Hermoine brightened at Jounochi's thoughts and Ron and Harry exchanged a glance. "Most wizards don't care about house elves. It's because of old custom, but I expect those who lived in with Muggles would understand." Harry saw Hermoine stressing the last statement toward him. "Harry, Ron and I actually started SPEW together—"

"Spew?" Jounochi blinked. Ron was about to interject Hermoine about starting SPEW but laughed at Jounochi's comment.

"Not _spew_, but it stands for Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. It's an organization to fight for the rights of house elves," Hermoine explained. "I've been making hats and scarves for them over the summer. Since I couldn't use magic, I had to do it with my hand but since the Ministry of Magic announced a state of emergency to use magic for protection, I've been knitting much faster."

"Hermoine, you're actually breaking a rule?" Ron asked, aghast.

Hermoine smiled slightly, rolling her eyes. "I'm not breaking any rule. I'm taking advantage of it for good reasons."

Jounochi drank a goblet of water. Mrs. Weasley's cooking was delicious. Whoever cooks it, Muggle or wizard, as long as the food stays delicious, Jounochi was easily pleased. The talk with all the magical things had him confused at first but after encountering Yugi, he thought he should keep an open mind. He's refraining from asking too many questions though. He felt like he's not going to completely understand the situation until he's there.

There was that fact he was a Pureblood wizard. Harry and the others haven't asked him about last night so they don't know anymore information about it. Ginny hadn't had the chance to corner him since Mrs. Weasley was always asking for her assistance. Jounochi haven't told anyone yet in his initiative and he's unsure whether he should.

"_I said I trust Yugi's friends,"_ Malik's voice rang in his head. He looked at Malik, switching to chat with Fred and George who was saying something about a really hard to remember name because of so many w's. Jounochi felt like telling them about anything they don't have to know, something very private, would betray Malik's trust.

"_Malik trusts Yugi so he trusts me,_" Jounochi thought to himself. Then he and Malik were as good as friends, right? Jounochi have longed forgotten the incident between him and Malik and his other half back in the Battle City. Even the wounds when he and Yugi were forced to battle healed already. But when Malik spoke of those words that were cold but filled with complete and absolute confidence, Jounochi felt stronger now. "_Malik has my back_," Jounochi thought. "_And he has mine._"

Malik would sometimes hang with Jounochi's clique and he was quite energetic back in Japan a few weeks ago. He was using his smart mind to play some tricks sometimes, especially against Bakura and Kaiba. Jounochi joined Malik when it was against Kaiba, but Jounochi left Malik alone when it was against Bakura (since Jounichi considered Bakura a friend). He never asked if Malik and Bakura were close but he had seen Yugi with Bakura frequently but he never saw Bakura and Malik together, or the three in one room.

There was one time when Jounochi was walking with Yugi to the arcades.

"Where's Malik and Bakura?" he asked.

"Er, spending quality time together..." Yugi said with a weak chuckle. "Both of them are leaving Japan to England and Egypt so I guess..." Yugi was laughing nervously. Jounochi only blinked.

He shrugged Yugi's nervous laughing and his eyes that kept avoiding Jounochi, saying, "We should have a duel since they're leaving. You and Bakura always play some game together, right? Me and Malik can join so we can have a tag-team duel!" He grinned at the idea, looking at the sky. "You know, we can tag together, as in you and me, then Bakura and Malik. No spirits or magic involved for once—not meaning any offense to Yami of course."

"No!" Yugi yelled, horrified.

Jounochi stopped, looking down at his friend. "You don't want to partner up with me?"

"No!" Yugi yelled again, much more horrified that his friend thought that.

"Er, you don't want to have a tag-team duel?"

"No!" Yugi yelled for the third time, sighing. "Never mind. But a tag-team would have been very nice but it might not work out."

"Well, you can partner up with Bakura if you want. Malik and I are pretty good together."

They came to the arcades already and Anzu and Honda were there, waiting for them. The idea died out but Jounochi heard Yugi muttering faintly, "Those two against each other, no way..."

A few days later that day, Bakura left and everyone seemed to have followed. Now, he was here and meeting Malik all of a sudden with Isis and Rishid both dead. He remembered how sensitive he was to the topic last night and how one of the Weasleys named Bill embraced him. Were they close?

Jounochi heard his name being called. There were many who began stirring in their seats, rising from the chairs. There was someone standing beside him and, speaking of the devil, it was Malik.

"Jou, want to have a tag-team duel?"

Jounochi nodded almost automatically. "Yea, but with whom?"

"Ron and Harry," he said with a grin crawling up his lips. "They know how to duel, but let's crush them since they're beginners."

This was something that completely took him off of his thoughts and it was something like a grand dessert for Jounochi. He jumped from his seat. "Yea!"

"No duel disks though," he said, leading Jounochi to where Harry and his group were.

"Why?" he asked.

"We don't have one," he answered dryly. "Okay challengers, you ready?" he said happily.

Harry and Ron had some chairs and a table large enough for them to duel readied. Hermoine was reading a book while her charmed needles worked on the scarves and hats for the elves.

"Not really," Harry confessed. "I've never played before. Sure, I've got a deck..." _"And a weird one,_" he thought to himself. Harry never told how there was some cards he never recognized in his deck. He hadn't checked his deck ever since before the trip with Ryou and Kaiba in Diagon Alley. Harry would have looked at his deck but he wanted to do it privately.

"Having a deck is good enough," Malik said, taking a seat across the two on the table. "Besides, your friend can play."

"Malik, I never got to ask," he said, taking a seat beside him. "But how come you don't have any translating…erm, charms, like me?"

"English is my third language," he answered, taking out his deck. "Or my second. Most people in Egypt actually talked English and I learned Japanese on a short period of time. My English was rusty but living with British wizards is a good practice."

"Harry, do you know the rules?" Ron asked afterwards.

"Yea, sort of," he answered tentatively.

"You can coach him in the duel," Malik notified Ron. "Here, we shuffle each others' deck..."

Malik shuffled Ron's deck while Ron shuffled Malik. Hermoine peeked from the book she was reading the match, quite amazed that Ron could shuffle.

"Er," Harry said, starring at Jounochi's deck. To have such a high-ranking duelist deck on his hand was making him nervous to even shuffle it especially since he didn't know how to shuffle (Malik and Ron were shuffling as if they were gamblers for a long time). "I'm not very good at shuffling," he said lamely, slowly shuffling the deck. He noticed Jounochi haven't shuffled his deck and felt nervous. "Jou?"

"Oh," Jounochi blurted, finally shuffling Harry's deck. "Sorry—here," he said, handling back his deck. Harry hadn't shuffled Jounochi's deck much yet but returned it to Jounochi as he accepted his.

"I'm going to start," Malik said, putting down his deck and drawing five cards.

"Harry, draw five cards," Ron instructed to Harry who followed though his hands were already drawing the necessary number of cards.

"Go on," Malik said to Ron without looking at him, too busy studying the cards he has. "Explain him the phases and zones."

"All right. Harry, there are five monster zones and spell and trap zones," Ron explained, pointing at imaginary zones in front of Harry. "And then on top of your deck is your Graveyard. That's where dead monsters go then beside the graveyard is where monsters who were removed from play goes—" Harry nodded, listening attentively so as to not act stupid in his first duel. Ryou taught him the basics but it's been a few weeks already so he wouldn't mind a memory refresher.

"...you can only Normal Summon a monster once unless by effect of a monster or a magic or trap card. You can Special Summon monsters anytime. Summon fusion monsters are Special Summoning..."

It took a while to explain Harry the zones and the phases but Malik wasn't very impatient and Jounochi was thinking about something else. Harry didn't ask anything, simply nodding until Ron finished the explanation of the phases.

"Here we go then. Draw Phase, Harry, so I'll draw," Malik said for the beginner, drawing a card. "Standby Phase and then my first Main Phase..." he said dismissively, already pulling out a card to summon. "Summon Newdoria (1200/800) in attack mode," he said. "I'm not entering battle since it's first turn so I'll end my turn. Your turn, Ron."

Ron drew a card from his deck. He looked very serious and somewhat nervous. Ron stared at his cards quietly. "I'm placing a card faced down and setting two cards down. That's it."

"My turn then," Jounochi said, drawing a card. He looked at it, adding it to his hand. "I'm giving it my best here so I play Polymerization! I'm going to polymerize Baby Dragon and Alligator's Sword to summon Alligator's Sword Dragon (1700/1500). I end my turn!"

"You better not summon a monster with Earth, Water, or Fire attribute," Ron said to Harry.

"Why?" he asked, though his deck doesn't have monsters with the said attributes. "And how'd you know? Their cards are in Japanese."

"It's Alligator's Sword Dragon's effect," Ron answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "He can directly attack one of us if the only monsters in our field are Earth, Water, or Fire. And I didn't have to read it. I know the card."

"Got it," he said, nodding and drawing one card. "I'm playing a Magic Card: Graceful Charity."

"That's a good move," Ron remarked.

"Thanks. Well, I'll draw three cards and throw down two..."

"—When you put down cards in the graveyard, choose carefully," Ron said to Harry as he was picking the cards to throw. "It's not because you can't use them anymore, but there are a lot of combos you can use. It can be the Monster's effect or by the use of a Magic and Trap card."

Harry knew even before Ron's explanation of the idea, but he had a confirmation he was doing a right and natural thing. He used Pot of Greed, the card he chose in Graceful Charity. He looked at the seven cards he has. He was a little apprehensive at the move he's about to take. "I'm activating another Magic Card: Final Destiny."

There was a collective gasps of "what's" and Hermoine arched an eyebrow, intrigued.

"Isn't that move a bit too early?" Ron asked, sounding bemused.

Harry smiled a bit to Ron but didn't answer. "I'm discarding five cards to destroy all cards in the field."

"Activate Trap Card," Ron said, flipping one of the cards he set down. "Time Seal. It's not going to cancel the Magic card Harry used, but I better use it now. You have to skip your Draw Phase next turn and I choose Jou for this card's effect."

"I feel like the duel's going to move fast," Malik commented.

Harry discarded five cards from his hands now and when the effect came about, everyone cleared the table, sending the monsters and set magic or trap cards in the graveyard. Harry has one card left. "I'm going to summon Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight (2300/2100). He's the only one I have in my hand and it says in his effect I can summon him without tribute."

Malik nodded while Jounochi anticipated for the direct attack. The anticipation wasn't long when Harry declared direct attack to Jounochi (Jou's LP: 4000 – 2300 1700).

"That's a very good turn. A very bold move, I must say," Malik said, drawing a card after Harry ended his turn. He didn't have any cards left. "But we're still quite even. I summon Dark Jeroid (1200/1500) in attack mode."

Harry looked at the card and Malik quickly saw his eyebrows furrowing angrily. His eyes widened behind his spectacles. "Er, that monster's..."

"Very deformed," Ron said with a disgusted voice.

The monster was a blue-skinned fiend. It looked like a human torso with arms and two scorpion legs coming from its back. Instead of legs, the fiend had extremely long hands. In between the hands was the head of another fiend figure, on four legs with a tail, connected to the torso with disfigured anatomy.

"It's a fiend monster, it's natural they would look _monstrous_," Malik said plainly, setting a card down. "I'm ending my turn with one card faced down."

Ron drew a card. He never heard of Dark Jeroid but the digits in the card didn't lie even if he couldn't read the Japanese text. Dark Jeroid was left in an attack position when Harry's Gaia could easily destroy it. It was obvious the faced down card was a trap card, or a Quick-Play magic card. He played with Malik once already. It was more likely to be a trap card.

"_I better take the trap for Harry_," he thought. Ron looked at Jounochi's field. It was completely empty on the other hand.

"I summon Raging Flame Sprite (100/200) in attack mode. Raging Flame Sprite can attack an opponent directly and increase its attack by 1000," Ron explained. Harry recalled having that card in his deck. He wasn't sure really if it was still in it...

"I'm going to attack Malik," Ron said. Malik shrugged, signalling the lack of activation of any cards (4000 – 100 3900). Ron quietly looked at the faced down card. He might be reserving it to Harry. "I'm placing a card down. End of turn."

"It's my turn." Jounochi declared. He only has three cards in his hand since he had to skip his Draw Phase thanks to Ron's Time Seal. His hand was still helpful though: Gamble, Nutrient Z, and Red Eyes Black Metal Dragon. Summoning Red Eyes isn't an option right now, not when he also needs the real monster in the field and equipped it with Metalmorph, which he doesn't have in his hand yet.

"I place two cards down and end of turn. Your turn, Harry."

Harry drew a card. Jounochi has two cards faced down. From what he learned from Ryou, trap cards are very dangerous. If Gaia disappears, he wouldn't have any protection. He looked at the card he drew and realized the card answered his problem. It was Swords of Revealing Light. He read the descriptions. It was unfamiliar. He never came across this card when he scanned his deck. Harry blinked his eyes tightly thrice. Contracting what he felt, it did look familiar and he felt like he held on it for a long time. This deck...

"Harry?" Hermoine's voice mildly woke him up.

Ron was quite focused in his cards to notice and Malik thought Harry was just thinking on what to do for his turn. Jounochi has been waiting for a response from Harry, ready to activate Nutrient Z. It was Hermoine who caused all three duelists to change their thoughts. Harry's fingers started rubbing his scar. It didn't strike a meaning to the foreigners but both Ron and Hermoine looked alarmed.

"I'm fine," he said, quite convincingly actually.

"You're a bit pale," Hermoine observed.

"Just a headache," he said to assure them but by headache, they looked like they have understood a hidden message. Obviously, it was disabused.

"We can stop if you're feeling unwell, Harry," Malik said. "You might be tired for cleaning all morning."

Right on time, Mrs. Weasley came in the room, noticing the small group and overhearing Malik's last several words. "Who's tired from cleaning?" she asked. They looked up from their game to Mrs. Weasley but she figured out easily it was Harry. "Harry, you can go up and rest if you want, dear."

"I'm fine, Mrs. Weasley," he said.

"If you are, then you lot better start moving. We need to take out the unneeded items from the shelves." She looked at Malik and Jounochi. "Sirius wanted me to tell you he and Lupin found a Boggart upstairs. I don't know what you're planning but make sure someone is accompanying you."

Malik nodded. "Harry will," he said spontaneously. "—if he's going to feel all right," he continued, turning his head to him.

"I'll go," Harry said earnestly, nodding.

"Okay then. Ron, Hermoine, you could help Ginny with the shelves—"

"We want to come with Harry," Ron immediately protested. "It's just for a while!" he said pleadingly.

Mrs. Weasley sighed, obviously defeated. "Hurry up then. We're going to have more guests tonight."

The four duelists collected their cards, abandoning the duel. Hermoine stowed her knitted hats and socks, following the boys. Ron was already beside Harry, ready to corner him about his scar. The trio couldn't discuss though with Jounochi and Malik so they walked in silence.

"So...did you have a trap card set?" Harry asked Jounochi to break the brief silence before it grows to an uncomfortable atmosphere.

Jounochi nodded. "Of course. Nutrient Z. If Gaia attacked me, I'd activate it. It will add 4000 points to my life points since Gaia's attack is more than 2000."

"Oh," Malik said blankly.

"Oh?" Jounochi blinked.

"I was planning to surprise them with Dark Jeroid's effect. I thought you knew its effects. When Dark Jeroid was summoned, I selected Gaia. As long as Dark Jeroid is in the field, Gaia's attacks should be lowered by 700."

Jounochi's eyes slid to the ceiling, counting. "2300 and 700...1500?" Jounochi shouted. "Malik, my life points would be 200!"

Malik tried not to smirk too hard. "I would have used Dark Jeroid to protect you. It would be the back-up plan."

The blond didn't look anymore upset at the ruined plan he had to increase his damaged life points. He nodded firmly, putting a fist up determinedly. "I wouldn't still give up even if my life points did drop to 200."

"Harry gave us a bit of a scare there. I thought we were going to lose after a few turns."

Harry wished Malik didn't add his name in the conversation. He didn't know what to say about that statement. Malik watched him, slightly bemused of his silence so he continued.

"You did really well. It was a very good combo," Malik added.

"Thanks," Harry said.

They reached the giant jar in the hallway that was supposed to contain the Boggart. It looked antique just like the majority of items in the Black Manor. Their affinity for silver despite their last name was still evident by the surface of giant jar. There were also carvings of snakes on the teardrop-shaped pot.

"Jou, just open the jar and stay in the middle," Harry instructed. "The Boggart will change form when it sees someone else."

"Thanks, Harry. I trust you with this," Jounochi said, swiftly throwing a thumbs-up up. "I'm not scared of Kaiba."

"No one said you were."

"Shut up, Malik."

Harry took out his wand, stepping nearest to Jounochi but far from the Boggart's view. Malik stepped aside too. Neither Hermoine nor Ron drew their wand just in case. Harry was really enough to fight this thing.

Jounochi breathed in, hiding his sigh as he opened the lid of the jar. The jar quivered and Jounochi stared at the jar, waiting for whatever he fears to come out bravely. Jounochi saw an unidentified black figure stepping out of the jar but before he could stare at it, the figure changed to the same CEO with his cold blue eyes.

"It's you again, _loser_," the Boggart-Kaiba jeered.

Obviously affronted by anything Kaiba says, Jounochi stomped his right foot. "I'm not a loser, Kaiba! And you don't scare me—Shut up, Malik!"

It was obvious Jounochi wasn't anything scared, Malik observed. He's ready to attack the reincarnated priest anytime so why was the Boggart turning into Kaiba?

As if sensing the lack of fear, the Boggart began to take on a new form. Jounochi glared at it and the wizards watched what the Boggart was trying to do now.

A girl with brown elegant hair stood right before the jar. Her eyes were covered with bandages and her cheeks were wet from tears. "I'm going blind because you couldn't win the tournament reward!" She screamed angrily.

Jounochi was stunned. His whole body froze, his jaw tightened and his heart began pounding violently against his chest. These were the signs of fear. The Boggart was starting to do its job. Jounochi was too shocked to realize it was his sister in front of him. Emotions flooded in first and an unexplained crawling of sadness and great fear struck him as the screamed deafened him. When the picture ticked in his mind, he shouted his sister's name. "Shizuka!"

The only wand drawn up half-raised in the mid-air, the spell Harry was about to chant had its destination set in one and a half second. He stopped when the Boggart took another shape. He glanced at Ron, Hermoine and Malik—none of them were in the Boggart's way. Even so, he saw Malik's eyes getting bigger.

"Help me..." she choked on her tears. "Jounochi-kun..."

Ron's jaw dropped and Hermoine tugged Harry. "Harry, cast the spell now!"

Harry was already thinking along the same lines. Jounochi's possible action was still unpredictable. He might be unmoving because of the shock but knowing the impulsive duelist, he might jump at the Boggart to try and help the image of a crying Kujaku.

"_Riddiku—"_

"BASTARD!"

All three wizards were startled. Jounochi was no longer shaking out of fear. He was furious, angry, in a mad frenzy. They were sure the Boggart wasn't Kaiba, but Jounochi was equally, if not more, angry at the Boggart right now. This gave Harry more the reason to fire at the Boggart right now. The crying image of the witch troubled Harry, but it was none of his business with what her relation is with the Japanese. Just as he raised his hand, a blond blur shook his head. Harry glanced at Malik and saw his purple eyes starring back at him. He doesn't want him to cast it yet...?

Jounochi knew it was true. He didn't mind Kaiba. He hated that guy, but his sister and Mai? This Boggart was going too far. His fists were shaking and he was read to jump and attack. No one calls him a loser or makes his sister cry. No one makes his friends suffer in front of him. The thought of helplessly watching angered Jounochi but how his legs still refused to move proved that it wasn't only anger he was experiencing.

He's been glaring intently at the boggart. The image dug in his mind and his eyesight became blurry. The boggart hadn't changed its form for quite a while compared to the time when it took Kaiba and his sister's form. His eyes were locked on the image but not one detail came into his mind. He couldn't think clearly anymore.

The picture broke and he felt a light push from his side. He was surprised by the creaking the floor when his foot stepped back. Jounochi's view rolled from the boggart to the ceiling. He collapsed on the floor more painfully than he thought. His knees gave in and he dropped on his rear. He looked down and saw the Egyptian standing on his place.

"Malik!" Hermoine reproached.

"I said I wanted to know my fear," he said in an audible whisper. Hermoine looked silenced by the confident voice. Jounochi barely moved at that time. The first try on Jounochi wasn't very successful, the second simply shocked him, and the third completely stunned him. How about him?

The boggart changed its figure once Malik stepped up. His head ran with choices. His other personality? That was going to be a problem with three foreigners watching, but he could explain it as a split personality, even an evil twin brother no matter how stupid that sounds. Second would be his dead father. Seeing the father he hated but loved would send chills to his spine. His other thought would be his sister and brother, Isis and Rishid. Highly likely.

The height of the boggart dropped and a human shape materialized. The head was bowed down, blond hair covering most of what could be seen in his features. The arms were limp on the side and his knees were on the floor. Malik was caught off-guard. He was shocked, but he wasn't scared. He wouldn't be, not when he doesn't even know this person.

"Who the hell are you?"

Ron furrowed his eyebrows. Everyone's guard dropped. The three wizards, aware of a boggart's nature, were intrigued, looking closer.

"Hey..." Ron said, drawling long and slowly. "Isn't that..."

"Malfoy?" Harry finished.

Malik blinked, more surprised that the wizards know the dead boy in front of him. "You know him?"

"You don't know him?" Hermoine asked back, looking puzzled and somewhat troubled and suspicious.

"No," he answered tonelessly. "Maybe this boggart is too old or something..."

"It worked fine with Jou," Ron pointed out. He looked at Jounochi who was still on the floor. "Right?"

Jounochi opened his mouth to say something but he only could nod his head.

Harry looked at Hermoine instantly for any answers or explanation. She was already thinking. "There's a first time for everything...that's what Dumbledore would say. Harry, you should get rid of it. It might be dangerous."

Harry nodded and cast a _Riddikulus_ spell. The boggart's form inflated, bouncing off and disappearing back into the jar. Ron returned the lid immediately, starring at it cautiously, his forehead wrinkled in thought. Slowly, he turned to Malik and Malik just gave Ron a matter-of-factly look.

"What?"

"Well," Ron said slowly. "As much as I wanted _that_ to really happen, that was bizarre."

"It is," was what the Egyptian only said. "I had three ideas what I might fear. That Malfoy kid wasn't even close, since I never met him in the first place."

"What were they?" Ron asked without thinking.

Malik didn't look completely offended by the question though Hermoine gave Ron a dark look instead. Ron noticed, mouthing a 'what' to Hermoine. Hermoine face-palmed.

"There was my dead family rising from the dead as brain-eating zombies, and my evil twin brother showing up from the eternal darkness where he was locked and now seeking for revenge," Malik said plainly. Ron was silent for a second but the others chuckled, catching the hint of sarcasm on Malik's voice. Malik just stared at Ron.

Ron caught up with the sarcasm, rolling his eyes. Jounochi knew that the sarcasm was true, but what Malik said wasn't really a lie either so he didn't laugh. They could have taken his silence for the shock the boggart gave him. He weakly stood up on his own, starring at the floor. He felt Malik's arm thrown up around his neck, patting his other shoulder. Jounochi felt Malik's weight on him, stumbling slightly since he was still feeling lightheaded from the boggart experience.

"You better get going now. Jounochi and I will be in our existential angst for a while, so could you three go on ahead?" Malik said with a humorous grin.

"Just don't think of opening the jar again," Hermoine said as Harry and Ron looked at each other. "Let's go downstairs and help Ginny with the stacking."

The trio did so, knowing that they have some topics in mind to discuss—without the foreigners.

"Why did the boggart changed to a _dead_ Malfoy at Malik?" Ron asked the two as they slowly descended downstairs. They were out of earshot by now.

"There's a first time for everything," Hermoine repeated.

Ron looked at her. "You don't actually believe that!"

"It's possible. There might be other reasons, but Malik didn't look at all troubled. He looked like he was telling the truth he said he never even met him."

"Yea," Harry agreed. "Malik was as confused as us."

"How about Jou?" Ron asked. "Why was Kujaku one of them? And the girl with bandage around her eyes...why was she gagged anyway?"

"She wasn't gagged," Hermoine pointed out. "She's blind. She was screaming about not winning a tournament reward then going blind." Ron looked confused. "She's probably a Muggle friend of Jou. Muggles need doctors to cure diseases, tending wounds and operations, probably an eye operation. Operations cost highly."

"How do you operate the eyes?" Ron asked disbelievingly.

"A fragile operation," was all Hermoine told him.

Meanwhile, Malik and Jounochi remained in the isolated hallway, a couple of steps away from the boggart. Malik made a comment about swishing a stick to make a chair appear so Jounochi could sit down. The blond just smiled at Malik's efforts, assuring he was okay.

"But how about that Malfoy? Was that his name?"

Malik nodded. "Yes, but I never heard of him, I couldn't have possibly seen him before..." he cupped his chin, furrowing his eyebrows. "Actually, I might have heard it...no, not heard, _read_ it. It might be just a word that sounded like Malfoy though." Malik sighed, scratching the back of his head. "It's weird, but no harm done. You?"

"I'm okay," Jounochi said instantly. "Really. I still don't know what Kaiba's link to Shizuka and Mai."

"I think you're afraid of failure, Jou," he thought out loud. "I've heard you never won against Kaiba and your little sister isn't really blind. She was treated with the prize money and Mai..." A bitter look came on Malik's face and continued grimly, "—isn't in a coma because of me."

Jounochi felt stung at the bitter statement and the resentment Malik has for himself. "Malik, I already forgave you, and so did Mai."

Malik glared at Jounochi. "You _do_ know that she joined the Doma and took a handful of souls?" he said carelessly.

Jounochi grabbed Malik's collar, lifting him for a few inches. "That isn't Mai's fault!" Jounochi argued angrily.

The Egyptian didn't falter, gritting his teeth and not at all resisting with Jounochi's superhuman grip. "Of course it wasn't hers! Why do you think she switched sides—"

"MAI NEVER LEFT US—"

"—I wasn't being sarcastic!"

Malik didn't realize how much air he was losing with Jounochi's grip. He instantly coughed when the blonde's grip loosened and his feet touched the ground. He cupped his mouth, glaring at the Japanese who also refused to back down with the glare and the unfleeting feeling of anger. The fact Jounochi pulled him down meant that he was willing to hear Malik now, catching his attention to what he might really mean.

"I wasn't being sarcastic," Malik repeated. "Mai didn't just decide to join that soul-stealing organization because she thought it was fun. She wasn't the type either to crave for power to the point of using duels as a killing game, but the feeling of hopelessness and vulnerability in that Shadow Game had eaten the strong will and the light to resist it. It's because of me."

Jounochi lost his glare and a sympathetic expression made Malik's glare directed to the innocent floor instead. Lost of what to say, Jounochi jut whispered, "Malik..." He then recalled last night's events and instantly said before Malik could continue, "Mai said she forgave you. It had nothing to do with you," he said, sounding firmer.

"It's still awkward though," he said after a while. "It's a bit sudden, Jounichi-kun. Rishid is dead, Isis is dead, this magical thing _in Britain_, then this Doma. I got here from a magical hospital and then you got here unconscious with Mai. When do you think was the last time I saw her? And the fact she almost took your soul."

Jounochi didn't miss the smart comment he had to add but didn't think he should be angry at Malik anymore. He would like to defend Mai since she was his friend, but Malik too was his friend. Taking sides just didn't seem right. If only Yugi was around...

Malik closed his eyes, pacing around and crossing his arms. "What the hell am I saying? Things must be more confusing to you!"

"No, not at all," the duelist said frankly. "It's confusing, but I'll understand soon. I trust the people here. I just have to believe until I can get a hold of what's going on."

"Is that why you didn't tell Harry and the others about anything?" Malik said. Another smart comment, and there was a grim smile on his face as he looked at Jounochi. The blond duelist stuttered, trying to find the right words but defeat reigned over him. Malik rubbed his temples. "I'm so sorry, Jou."

Jounochi was so lost with what to say. "No, you don't have to!" he said with his usual vigour but felt it dying fast. He's been saying the same things to Malik and it seemed like Malik was getting worse. He didn't want him to continue talking either. It makes him feel bad as well. God, if only Yugi was here.

"I've been selfish. When I didn't want to tell them about the pharaoh or the Sennen Items—oh Set, and when I said I trusted Yugi's friends, of course you'd feel that way..."

Jounochi watched Malik fall to a soliloquy, coming to a silent conclusion by himself. He felt stupid, just standing here, frustrated at how useless he was now. Was he really a friend or not? He could only look down and stare at the floor, still wishing that his best friend, Yugi Motou, was around. He would know what to say, he always do.

"Malik," Jounochi said in a deep, forced calm voice. He sighed, closing his eyes and opening to reveal a pair of determined, bronze eyes. "It's fate. We just need to trust each other and get through this."

"That's what you said last night." For the first time since they argued, Malik smiled even if it was weak. "But if you really trust these people, then I will trust them too. Besides, Mai is among them. She's our friend after all."

Sensing the lifting mood, Jounochi smiled. The two boys did a friendly boyish gesture of clasping their hands together, finally resisting the magnetism causing them to look away.

-

As soon as Harry, Hermoine and Ron came downstairs to help Ginny cleaning, a hideous, rag-wearing small elf with a long, crooked nose, dark, gloomy, shadowing eyes and very thin bones, limply appeared on their view. Harry was so shocked by the appearance he took out his wand. Ron only gave a hint of disgust and Hermoine looked sympathetic.

"That's just Kreacher," Ron said to Harry who slowly stowed his wand. "House elf."

"The Blacks?" Harry said.

"Poor Kreacher…" Hermoine said sympathetically. The house elf, Kreacher looked horrified, muttering about mudbloods and trying to look away. Harry glared at Kreacher but Hermoine said, "No, it's fine!"

The afternoon slowly passed by until the sun disappeared. The wizards of the house were all exhausted cleaning the manor. After an uneventful dinner, Harry and the other underage wizards were told to go to bed—including Fred and George. There was another roar of protest from the Weasley children towards their mother.

"This is an _official_ meeting of the Order!" Mrs. Weasley said. "You are not members of the Order!"

"Your mother is quite right."

The new, but olden voice came from the visitor. A man with old features, a serious expression drawn on his face came through the door with Snape. Albus Dumbledore had arrived. Malik looked at the man quietly. He stood at a corner besides Jounochi. Jounochi was still registering the…_wizard-like_ appearance of the old man but something in his aura refrain him from making any immature reactions like usual.

"You heard Dumbledore," Mrs. Weasley said to them.

"That would include you, Harry," Dumbledore said, looking at him sternly.

Harry was stunned, so sure that he would be able to stay and listen. The Weasley children were hoping that if they can't stay, at least Harry should and then spill them the information. Still, Harry made no more objections with Dumbledore's stern blue gaze at him. Mrs. Weasley soon led them out. Malik and Jounochi looked at each other, both asking of what they were supposed to do.

"You two may stay," Dumbledore said to them, taking a seat at the benches. As soon as the members of the Order (Snape remaining standing and across him, Siruis standing as well) and the two Duelists took a seat, the room became quiet. Not a lone voice had spoken, and now that the footsteps have stopped, Dumbledore spoke.

"This will be a brief meeting, but I know you all have questions but we must get straight to what is urgent and important at the moment. Voldemort is making little movement, but he has a broad plan that he is slowly setting in motion. Recently, he's been killing Muggles, notorious Muggles—murderers, thieves, criminal masterminds. His attack on Mr. Ishatar's family was very sudden. The connection is…unclear.

"For once, I am quite clueless of what Voldemort is planning."

This set the wizards uneasy. Dumbledore remained silent, welcoming any comments or questions, or perhaps he is letting their doubts come out before he continue.

"What are we going to do then?" Mr. Weasley finally asked.

"We will need to find people who will give us clues, clues we will piece together for answers. We already have Mr. Ishater and Mr. Jounochi. I have already come in contact with the other one and arranged him to come to Hogwarts as well."

"Is he with you?" Sirius asked.

"Obviously, he isn't, as they are only two of us," Snape answered immediately.

"He is not completely aware of the situation, but his lack of knowledge is for his safety while he is not in Hogwarts. However, Mr. Ishtar is at risk already and perhaps Mr. Jounochi too. It is a guess, of course. We are far away from having the upper hand because two of the most important people are still out there and Voldemort may be looking for them. Fortunately, I have yet another guess of who they are, though I'm quite sure I am right."

"It's Yugi, isn't?"

All heads turned to Jounochi. Dumbledore eyed at his strong, bronze eyes and nodded. "You are right, Mr. Jounochi. Mr. Motou is one of the most important people to give us clues for what Voldemort has planned. Unfortunately, he had disappeared for a few weeks now and I fear Voldemort may have gotten his hands on him already. There's still the possibility he is out there, hiding cautiously, but if he is then we couldn't find him easily if he didn't want to be found. We will be focusing our main attention then to the last piece of the puzzle: Gabriel Wind."


End file.
